Azadi march containers create traffic havoc

Long queues were seen on Jinnah Avenue, Expressway and areas near Sector H-9

ISLAMABAD: The first full working day in the federal capital after the arrival of Azadi march late last week turned out to be a traffic nightmare for residents of the twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi with long queues hours-long snarl-ups observed in different parts of the federal capital.

Anticipating the arrival of the Azadi march led by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and the police had started putting up shipping containers all over the federal capital.

The containers were set up for two primary tasks. The first was to contain the Azadi march participants in Sector H-9, the agreed spot for their protest. The second was to prevent the protesters from moving towards the red zone areas of D-Chowk and Parliament House.

Govt efforts to tackle 'Azadi March' gain pace

Earlier on Friday, the Islamabad district administration had announced a holiday for private and public educational institutions in the city while attendance in government and private offices remained thin as many people, with memories of the four-month-long protest in the federal capital by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in 2014, decided not to step outside of their homes.

JUI-F members hand over a gun found on a man to the police. PHOTO: PPI/EXPRESS

However, with JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman postponing plans to march on to D-Chowk, many ventured out on Monday morning thinking that the situation will be normal.

They could not have been more wrong.

With the Kashmir Highway closed, traffic was diverted onto Islamabad Express, Jinnah Avenue, Margalla Road and Nizamuddin Road. The bulk of traffic from Rawalpindi was allowed to enter from IJP Road.

However, as commuters got closer to the Blue Area, they found containers placed on either side of the road which squeezed the otherwise spacious five-lane roads into single or even dual lane roads.

As a result, the commuters including office goers, government officers and even students faced extreme difficulties in getting to their destinations on time because traffic moved at a snail’s pace.

Long queues of vehicles could be seen on different thoroughfares of the city, especially in areas around where the protesters have camped in Sector H-9. The queues were seen in Sectors I-8, I-9, G-8, G-9, G-10, G-11, H-8, and H-9.

Most of the jams continued from early morning to midday. It was a similar situation in the evening when offices let out and people tried to get back to their homes.

The situation also laid bare the claims made by the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) that they will maintain a smooth flow of traffic during the protests.

When asked, an Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) spokesperson admitted to The Express Tribune that there were traffic snarl-ups during the day because most of the multi-lane roads have been converted into single-lane paths as part of the security arrangements made for the march.

He also blamed errant driving for the jams, adding that even though people knew that most of the roads have either been blocked or narrowed owing to the march, they displayed impatience and tried to break the queue especially near bottlenecks which only served to worsen the gridlock.

Azadi march participants start to ‘settle down’

“Everyone tried to get ahead of the other which impeded the flow of traffic,” the exasperated official added.

Armed man held

Despite the tall claims of ensuring tight security at the venue of the Azadi march, a man armed with a pistol was caught from the march venue on Monday.

The suspect, Sultan Abbasi, was spotted by JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Personal Chief Security Officer Abdul Razzaq Lakho. A search of the suspect yielded a pistol and two magazines full of bullets. Abbasi was detained by the JUI-F security officials and was later handed over to Inspector Tassaduq of the Islamabad Police.

During initial investigations, the suspect claimed that he was a diehard supporter of the JUI-F chief and that he had come to visit the opposition politician. He further claimed that he had spent a large part of his life working abroad and that he wanted to offer a reward of Rs1 billion to JUI-F chief if he succeeds in bringing an Islamic system in the country.

Despite the glaring security lapse by police officers deployed to secure the protest venue, Islamabad Police issued a press statement later in the day in which officers were lauded for their swift action in apprehending the armed suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2019.