KARACHI – Major city markets remained closed while traffic on roads and attendance in schools and colleges thinned out on Wednesday following a strike called by the Jamaat-e-Islami against the killing of one its senior leaders. Dr Pervaiz Mehmood was killed in a targeted attack in North Nazimabad near KDA Intersection along with a friend, namely Khaliquz Zaman, on Tuesday. The strike call given against the killing of the JI leader was backed by numerous political groups, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami National Party, Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi, Awami Tehreek, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl-F, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Sunni Tehreek, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Reports say that unidentified gunmen went on a shooting spree following twin bombings in the Hyderi Market on Tuesday evening that triggered panic in the metropolis. Eight people were killed and around two dozen others wounded when two bombs ripped through the Dolmen Shopping Centre. In many city neighbourhoods, people remained stranded at their houses. Public transport – buses, taxis and rickshaws – were hardly available to ferry commuters following the back-to-back explosions. According to Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, their strike received overwhelming support of traders, transporters, and religious and political segments. Terming the strike as a referendum against terrorists and extortionists, he asserted, “It (the strike) proved that the citizens wanted to get rid of terrorists and extortionists.” Almost all major markets in the downtown remained closed. In other city areas, traders suspended their business activities in morning hours. Filling stations and petrol pumps in Quaidabad, Malir, North Karachi and some other Old City areas were also seen closed. Public transport also remained off the road.As attendance in educational institutes was quite thin, many schools got closed later on. Sources, however, revealed that schools were closed down on the warning from unidentified miscreants. Heavy contingents of police and other law-enforcement agencies were deployed in different areas of the city. As an extra-precautionary measure, all roads leading to the Chief Minister’s House and Governor’s House were cordoned off by placing containers. Apart from a few localities, the overall situation in the city remained peaceful, added the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In Quaidabad area, a truck was set ablaze during a rally, while tyres were set afire on roads and vehicles pelted with stones in rallies in other parts of the city. JI leader Mehanti told a news conference that despite all undemocratic tactics used at the behest of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, their strike received an outstanding response and people voluntarily participated in it. He said that nearly 100 activists of his party were arrested from their homes overnight, prior to the strike. He thanked the citizens, religious and political parties for their support to the strike call. Mehanti, however, expressed dismay that the government gave free hand to its allies for their strike calls but was indifferent to the JI’s strike. Talking about the blasphemous American film, the JI leader said his party would support the protest called against the movie on Friday, and would take out a big rally on Sunday as well. He held that local puppets of foreign elements had killed Dr Mehmood and carried out two bombings in Hydri area to divert the attention of the public from the anti-Islam film.Mehanti called on the government to sack the incumbent governor who, according to him, was responsible for the killings of Abdul Wahid and Dr Mehmood. JI leader Asadullah Bhutto added that the bullet the JI worker was hit by was fired from the Governor’s House. He also said that Dr Mehmood and Abdul Wahid laid down their lives in the struggle against extortionists. Bhutto however asserted that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement couldn’t spoil the struggle of the JI through its indiscriminate aims. Terming the strike as a referendum, he said the MQM’s rule at gunpoint in the city was heading to its logical end.