Sit-ins organised by the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) over the situation in Parachinar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, extended to Karachi, disrupting traffic and causing difficulties for commuters.
The protest sit-ins, which began a day earlier, continued Friday, blocking key arteries and leaving commuters scrambling during the morning rush.
The clashes in Parachinar have claimed more than 130 lives, with reports emerging of over 100 children dying due to a shortage of medicines in the city.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif has refuted these reports of child fatalities in the district.
Kurram, a tribal district of around 600,000 near the border with Afghanistan, has been a flashpoint for tensions for decades.
Fresh clashes erupted last month, triggering a humanitarian crisis with reports of starvation, lack of medicine and oxygen shortages following the blocking of the main highway connecting Kurram's main city of Parachinar to Peshawar.
Meanwhile, MA Jinnah Road at Numaish Chowrangi is closed to traffic. Motorists are being diverted through Secretariat Chowrangi and Guru Mandir to Soldier Bazaar as alternative routes.
Additionally, roads from Abu Al Hasan Isphahani Road to Super Highway Abbas Town remain blocked. Traffic is being rerouted from Paradise Bakery towards Fariya Chowk.
Five Star Chowrangi is also closed; however, traffic is moving via the service road. Alternative routes within inner-city areas are being utilised to maintain the flow of vehicles.
On Sharea Faisal, the stretch from Star Gate to Malir is inaccessible, and traffic is being directed from Drigh Road to Rashid Minhas Road.
The National Highway at the Malir 15 Bridge incline towards Quaidabad is blocked. Traffic is being diverted from Malir Halt to Model Colony, while vehicles are being rerouted from Manzil Pump to Younus Chowrangi and from Daud Chowrangi to the Industrial Area.
In the Kurram District, the Thall-Parachinar main road has now been blocked for 79 days, leading to a critical shortage of food and medicine. Despite concluding negotiations with the parties involved, the Grand Peace Jirga has yet to reach a definitive resolution.
The blockade has severely impacted the delivery of medicines, resulting in reports of continuous deaths from hospitals in Parachinar. Residents are being pushed to the brink of starvation.
In protest against the deteriorating situation, additional sit-ins have been staged at five more locations in Parachinar.
The central protest sit-in has now entered its eighth day. Demonstrations in solidarity with the protesters have spread across the country, including sit-ins in Islamabad, Lahore, Jhang, and Muzaffarabad. In Karachi, over seven locations have witnessed protest sit-ins, causing significant traffic disruptions.
MWM leader Allama Hassan Zafar Naqvi said that the people of Parachinar are under siege from all sides. He warned that if the situation persists, they will begin protesting in every divisional headquarters of Pakistan.
He said that they support sit-in in Parachinar, urging the federal and KP governments to open the closed roads.
MWM chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri, in his telephonic address from Numaish, said that a human tragedy was unfolding in Kurram Agency.
"Deaths are being caused by the closure of roads due to lack of food and medicine," said Jafri, stressing that the government should accept the demands of the people of Parachinar.
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