Major markets in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan’s two largest cities, remained shut on Saturday though grocery shops in populated neighbourhoods and medical stores stayed open.
In the southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, public markets were shuttered all day for the protest, which was called by Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist opposition party and joined by traders’ groups.
“It is the matter of the entire country as the common man is being badly affected,” said Abdul Rehim Kakar, leader of a traders’ association of Balochistan.
Worsening economic conditions, along with rising political tension ahead of a national election scheduled for November – but which is likely to be delayed, have triggered sporadic protests in recent weeks.