Traders shut shops to protest Gaza genocide
Karachi's commercial heartbeat slows down as a shutter-down strike brings business centres to a standstill. A powerful show of solidarity with Palestine and condemnation of Israeli aggression echoes through the usually bustling streets. PHOTO: JALAL QURESHI/EXPRESS
In a strong show of solidarity with the Palestinian people and in protest against Israeli aggression, all major and minor markets and shopping centers across Karachi remained closed on Monday. The business community united in their protest, shutting down operations to express their outrage over the ongoing violence in Gaza.
All electronics markets in the city remained closed. Key commercial areas such as Meethadar, the Old City area, and Sarafa Bazaar also remained shut. Due to the closure of the Sarafa Bazaar, gold rates could not be issued for the day. Other major markets and business hubs, including Kagzi Bazaar, Jodia Bazaar, Aram Bagh, Hyderi, Nagan Chowrangi, Liaquatabad, all markets along Abdullah Haroon Road including Madina City Mall, The Centre, Zainab Market, Bohri Bazaar, all Saddar markets, Clifton, Defence, Tariq Road, Bahadurabad, Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Golimar, Lasbela, Pak Colony, all medicine markets, the mobile market, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar, remained closed. Over 90% of the city's commercial activity came to a halt as traders voiced their anger against the Israeli military operations in Palestine.
Jodia Bazaar's central leader, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, said, "We stand with our Palestinian brothers and express our strong condemnation of Israeli atrocities." Rizwan Irfan, President of the Karachi Electronics Market, stated that traders responded to the call for a shutdown, proving their solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Sharjeel Goplani, President of the Karachi Timber Merchants Group, added that traders halted their businesses to show complete unity with the oppressed Palestinians, and that the global supporters of Israel should now clearly see the sentiments of the Pakistani people. Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, head of the Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association, said that not a single shop in Jodia Bazaar-the country's largest wholesale market-was open and not a single grain was sold locally or nationwide.
The Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association also set up a protest camp against Israeli actions. Protest rallies were organized by the All City Traders Ittehad Association and the Karachi Mobile and Electronics Dealers Association, where leaders including Minhaj Gulfam addressed the gatherings.
Traders' leader Shakir Fancy said that in protest against Israel's brutal violence in Gaza, the markets remained completely closed. Yaqoob Bali, Chairman of Kagzi Bazaar Old City Traders Ittehad, also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemned Israeli actions.
The Aram Bagh Traders Association fully supported the strike and kept their businesses closed. Mohammad Aslam Polani, General Secretary of the Medicine Market, confirmed that all medicine markets were shut on Monday. Faheem Ahmed Noori, President of the Saddar Alliance of Market and Mall Associations, said that all markets in Saddar were closed in protest against Israeli atrocities.
Hakim Shah, President of Lighthouse Market Association, stated that all Lighthouse markets were shut as a gesture of solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
40 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
US envoy says he does not think Palestinian state is US policy goal, Bloomberg reports
WASHINGTON: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he did not think that an independent Palestinian state remains a goal of U.S. foreign policy, according to an interview with Bloomberg News released on Tuesday. 'I don't think so,' Huckabee said when asked if a Palestinian state remains a goal of U.S. policy, Bloomberg reported. Asked whether Huckabee's remarks represented a change in U.S. policy, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to comment, saying policy-making was a matter for President Donald Trump and the White House. 'I'm not going to characterize the ambassador's remarks. I'm not going to explain them or really comment on them at all. I think he certainly speaks for himself,' Bruce told a regular press briefing. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Huckabee's remarks. US asking countries for 'voluntary' Palestinian relocation: Rubio Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is a staunch pro-Israel conservative picked by Trump to be his envoy to Israel. 'Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there's no room for it,' Huckabee was quoted as saying. Those probably won't happen 'in our lifetime,' he told the news agency. Trump, in his first term, was relatively tepid in his approach to a two-state solution, a longtime pillar of U.S. Middle East policy, and he has given little sign of where he stands on the issue in his second term. Huckabee suggested a piece of land could be carved out of a Muslim country rather than asking Israel to make room. 'Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?' Huckabee said, using the biblical name the Israeli government favors for the West Bank, where some 3 million Palestinians live under occupation. An evangelical Christian, Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Trump has pursued strongly pro-Israel policies as president and his choice of Huckabee as ambassador signaled that they would continue.
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Israel strike on Lebanon kills two
BEIRUT: Lebanon said an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday killed a man and his son in a southern village, the latest deadly attack despite a November ceasefire, with Israel claiming the two. The Lebanese health ministry said in a statement that 'an Israeli enemy drone carried out a strike in the village of Shebaa, killing two people and wounding one'. The two dead were a father and his son, with the state-run National News Agency saying the man wounded was also his son. The Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah member and an operative with the Lebanese Resistance Brigades, which is affiliated with the group. A military statement said the two men were 'handling weapons used by Hezbollah for terrorist purposes and for observation of (Israeli) soldiers in the area', near the border. Israel strike on south Lebanon kills one Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbour despite the November ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war. In the capital Beirut, a Lebanese military official told AFP that army forces had launched a search in a building in the city's southern suburbs, a densely populated area where Hezbollah holds sway. The official said the forces were looking for weapons at the request of a five-member committee supervising the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Israel warned on Friday that it would keep up its strikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. The Lebanese government has condemned a massive Israeli strike on south Beirut last week, on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Hezbollah said the Israeli air raid levelled nine residential blocks. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted underground drone factories. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack as 'a flagrant violation' of the ceasefire agreement.
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
UN peacekeepers say troops attacked by individuals in south Lebanon
BEIRUT: United Nations peacekeepers said rock-throwing individuals confronted them during a patrol on Tuesday in south Lebanon, calling repeated targeting of their troops 'unacceptable'. The UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed since 1978 to separate Lebanon and Israel, sits on a five-member committee to supervise the ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah. In a statement, UNIFIL said peacekeepers conducting 'a planned patrol' coordinated with the Lebanese army were 'confronted by a group of individuals in civilian clothing in the vicinity of Hallusiyat al-Tahta, in southern Lebanon'. 'The group attempted to obstruct the patrol using aggressive means, including throwing stones at the peacekeepers,' the statement read, adding that 'one peacekeeper was struck' but no injuries were reported. The situation was defused when the Lebanese army intervened, allowing the peacekeeping force to continue its patrol. 'It is unacceptable that UNIFIL peacekeepers continue to be targeted,' the statement added. UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP a Finnish soldier was slapped during the confrontation. Israeli strike on south Lebanon kills one: ministry A witness, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said an altercation ensued between locals and the Lebanese army, who were searching for the man who slapped the peacekeeper. One man opposing the army was injured and hospitalised, the witness said. In a statement, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he 'strongly condemns the repeated attacks' on UNIFIL forces and called for the attackers to be stopped and held accountable. After a meeting with French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned 'the occasional attacks on UNIFIL patrols', calling them 'unjustified and unacceptable'. There have been several confrontations between people in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway, and UN peacekeepers in recent weeks. Confrontations are typically defused by the Lebanese army and rarely escalate. In December 2022, an Irish peacekeeper was killed in a shooting at a UN armoured vehicle in the south. Hezbollah surrendered a man accused of the crime, but he was released around a year later. The November ceasefire agreement, which sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, states that only Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers may be deployed in the country's south. Israel is supposed to have fully withdrawn its troops from Lebanon according to the deal, but has remained in five positions it deems strategic and has repeatedly bombed the country.
