Street protests: Gridlock on Embassy Road

ISLAMABAD: Commuters near the red zone were mired in a traffic gridlock on Wednesday afternoon owing to a diversion on Shaheed-e-Millat road.

Since the diversions were created at a time when offices in the capital closed for the day, when there is a sudden spike in the number of vehicles simultaneously on the road, it led to a traffic gridlock.

Owing to the diversion, traffic drained into other surrounding roads, particularly on to Embassy Road leading to another jam. The situation was exacerbated due to the absence of adequate officials of the traffic police to manage the rush.

The diversion was created due to a large demonstration held by religious parties at the National Press Club who were demanding immediate action against social media pages committing blasphemy and punishing those convicted of blasphemy and are serving time in jail.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2017.