Panic and fear gripped the capital on Thursday as deadlines given by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) neared and talks floundered.
As a result, major public hospitals have been put on red alert to meet any emergency in case of a possible clash between the protesters and the police.
A senior doctor at Polyclinic hospital said such directives cause stress among medical and paramedical staff as well as the public.
He said the influx of patients has decreased by 40-50 per cent ever since marchers arrived in the capital. “Such announcements force patients coming from far-off areas to stay back home,” said the doctor.
There is also a fear among locals due to Tahirul Qadri’s threats of making trouble if his demands are not met.
Ahmad Shah has been living in Sector F-6/3 for seven years. He moved his family to their relatives’ home in Rawalpindi after Qadri announced a ‘Youm-e-Inqalab’ on Thursday. “We are sick and tired of all this drama in our surroundings. We have decided to stay in Rawalpindi till normalcy returns to the capital,” Shah said.
Thousands of policemen deployed in the Red Zone have also grown tired of the lingering sit-ins. Police say threats of toppling the government cause panic among the public. “We were told to remain alert today and ensure safety of all those coming to the sit-ins,” said an Islamabad police official on duty at the sit-ins.
“We are being crushed between ‘Naya Pakistan’ and ‘Inqilab March’ and are on duty for 18-20 hours everyday and have to sleep on the footpaths,” he lamented.
Another policeman said they have been listening to the same party songs for more than two weeks now. “We are deployed close to the loudspeakers and are suffering from severe head and ear aches,” he said.
Some policemen have also suffered sun burns and heat strokes. “These party leaders enjoy party songs and go back to their air-conditioned containers but we continue to suffer, along with the protesters.”
Moreover, residents continue to face traffic jams amid road blocks that continue to spring up and down at will.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2014.
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