After Hazara, govt blocks GT Road to stop convoys

Capital’s administration all set to barricade the red zone today

ABBOTTABAD/ ISLAMABAD: While the government has disconnected Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) from the rest of the country by blocking the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway, it has also blocked the main GT Road after the K-P’s Hazara division to stop the PTI workers from reaching Islamabad as part of their Nov 2 protest.



Police blocked the main GT Road at Shahiya toll plaza by placing containers and heaping gravel on the road. Owing to the roadblock, tourists, employees of different government, semi-government, private organisations, businessmen and students traveling by GT Road had to stay home on Monday.

However, the Hattar-Taxila Road and the Khanpur-Taxila Road were open throughout the day with heavy contingents of Punjab police and the Frontier Constabulary (FC) on the alert. Officials moved shipping containers to these two roads, but placed them on the roadside.



Hazara-based PTI workers and leaders chose to join the K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khatak’s procession at the Swabi interchange via Sirikot -Swabi Road. Those trying to travel to the PTI chief Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence individually, or in small groups, opted for the hilly route via Pir Sohawa and Lora.

Meanwhile, the capital’s administration is also all set to block main arteries of the city, particularly the road leading to the Islamabad’s red zone. A police officer told The Express Tribune that it was likely that the red zone and some other roads would be sealed by the morning. “We have to stop this mob,” he said, referring to PTI’s caravans on their way to capital.



Police are planning to block GT Road at Gujar Khan, Mandra Toll Plaza, and T-Chowk in Rawat to stop the PTI workers. They would also block Peshawar Road at Tarnol and all roads in Rawalpindi leading to Islamabad.

Though all roads and intersections in the capital remained open during the day on Monday, the police partially blocked all the roads leading to the red zone by the evening. Shipping containers were also placed on the Kashmir Highway at the Golra Morr.

On Kashmir Highway and at all entrances of the red zone, only one lane of the roads was open for traffic and police were waiting for orders to completely seal the Red Zone anytime. Containers were placed at Serena Hotel, Marriot Hotel and Nadra Chowk – the three main entrances into the red zone.



However, officials said Margalla Road would remain open even if other entry points were to be blocked. Margalla Road serves the diplomatic community and other essential government buildings located in the red zone. This road also remained open during the PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT) 2014 marathon sit-in in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, extra contingents of police were deployed at the exit points of Lahore at Shahdara Morr on GT Road and Babu Sabu Interchange on Lahore-Islamabad Motorway with shipping containers already moving to the places in a bid to stop PTI supporters.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2016.