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Jamaat strike against visit of Vajapayee halts Lahore

Romesh Arora in Lahore

All markets and bazaars in Lahore were closed today in response to the call of the right wing Jamaat-i-Islami to protest against the visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who arrives in the city later in the evening.

The Jamaat had called for a countrywide strike yesterday demanding that India must grant the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris and since atrocities were continuing in the valley, the Indian prime minister was not welcome in Pakistan.

Shopkeepers in the famous Anarkali said they had opened their shops at 0930 hours as ususal but were forced to pull down their shutters by the Jamaat workers, who were also protesting the hooliganism by a section of spectators yesterday at Eden Gardens stadium during the India-Pakistan cricket match.

All markets in the walled city, including the wholesale grain market Akbari Mandi, Shalmi, Rangmahal Dabbi Bazaar, and fashnionable Mall Road, Hall Road and Lytton Road, wore a deserted look.

UNI

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