Citizens launched a sit-in Monday evening which continued till Wednesday against the Punjab government’s move to extend the detention of eminent Shia scholar and head of Sipah-e-Mohammad Allama Ghulam Raza Naqvi by a month on account of Muharram.

The supporters of Naqvi, who was imprisoned in 1996 on murder and terrorism charges, gathered outside the city’s Camp Jail on Ferozepur Road and protested against his continued detention reportedly against an anti-terrorism court’s release orders issued Saturday.

The sit-in which continued till late disrupted traffic on Ferozepur Road as protestors exclaimed that Naqvi was their beloved leader who had “sacrificed his life to uphold their religious interests for years”.

Mehran Abbas, 26, said, “Our leader has been detained against any provable conviction. While he sits in jail, real and powerful terrorist outfits are out there to terrorize us and to make our lives living hell.”

Several commuters were affected by the sit-in as traffic remained blocked.

One of the commuters, Raza Hussain, said he had to take three alternate routes in order to reach his destination while he could have avoided all the excessive driving that he had to undertake because of the sit-in.