The strike was total in Karachi, the country's commercial capital, and the entire Sindh province while other provincial capitals Peshawar and Quetta also responded spontaneously, reports received here from different parts of the country said.

The strike was more or less successful also in Punjab, considered as the support base of Prime Minister Sharif, with reports from Lahore and Rawalpindi saying that at least 75 to 80 per cent of the shops and other establishments were closed and traffic was thin on the roads. Most of the shopping malls in capital Islamabad were closed but government offices were open though the attendance was thin. Karachi shut down completely following violence during a rally by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Friday while there werereports of sporadic clashes in different parts of the city.Unconfirmed reports said that at least 11 vehicles had been burnt and three bomb blasts heard in different parts of city.

The strike had originally been called by the traders association in protest against the government's decision to impose 15 per cent general sales tax on a number of items but all the opposition parties lent support to it criticising the government's policies in Sindh where a crackdown has been launched against MQM and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) activists.

Sharif sacks minister for criticism

Amid mounting pressure from a combined opposition and growing resentment within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), the Nawaz Sharif government has sacked a minister in the Baluchistan province after he criticised the prime minister.

Malik Sarwar Khan Kakar, Baluchistan's Revenue Minister, was shown the door on Thursday evening while Sharif was still touring the province distributing land to the landless farmers, accordingto an official announcement on Friday evening.

Though no reason was given for his dismissal, the Frontier Post daily said Kakar was dismissed because he criticised the prime minister for ignoring Baluchistan in developmental projects after meeting the PML dissident parliamentarian Mian Azhar. The dismissal reportedly came after Sharif met the Baluchistan Chief Minister Jan Mohammed Jamali.