The enthusiasm, which is usually witnessed among the people for Eid shopping during second half of Ramazan, is missing as the shoppers are frightened to go out because of poor law and order situation. The Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) appear helpless in overcoming the present poor law and order situation, which has forced Karachiites to stay indoors instead of going for Eid shopping.
The Eid Bazars, shopping malls and wholesales markets especially in old city areas, which used to remain opened whole night during Ramazan in the past, are closed by midnight because of the current tense situation in the city. Business activities have so far failed to pickup because of insecure environment of the city. A dull and uninspiring Eid shopping trend is witnessed at the major markets of the city, albeit the second half of Ramazan has entered in its last phase.
The shopkeepers of almost all major markets are seen sitting idle, waiting for buyers. Several shoppers while talking to this scribe said that due to unabated wave of violence in the city, they prefer to stay at their homes rather than going to shopping malls.
"We used to be known as late night shoppers but now we prefer to go to markets in daylight and try to return before Iftar," shoppers said. Needless to mention, since the beginning of Ramazan, the extortionists (Bhatta Mafia) are active in distributing Bhatta slips to the business community. The extortionists roam in the markets fearlessly, threatening businessmen of dire consequences in case they refuse to pay the amount asked for. Although many businessmen lost their lives and several of them have received life-threats, the authorities concerned have not come up with any specific strategy to take these wrongdoers to task.
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