Life limps back to normalcy as PTI ends sit-ins

Court seeks report on closure of roads and educational institutions

RAWALPINDI:

Life returned to normalcy in Rawalpindi on Friday after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers ended the week-long protests and sit-ins on major highways and roads on the call of party and former prime minister Imran Khan.

The routine life and businesses in garrison city were back to their bustling self after the removal of roadblocks by the PTI workers who had blocked major highways, including the motorway (M-2), part of Murree Road, Swan Road, old airport road and GT Road near Taxila.

After the removal of roadblocks on Murree Road, Liaquat Bagh, Shamsabad, Double Road, Faizabad, Old Airport Road, Karal Chowk, Sawan Bridge, GT Road and motorway and traffic was restored.

The PTI workers had been protesting and staging sit-ins seeking to file the FIR in the attempted assassination of Imran Khan during the long march rally in Wazirabad according to the wishes of the party chief.

The motorway (M-1) was also closed down on the Islamabad-Peshawar section for traffic during PTI protests, causing gruelling traffic jams on the motorway link road up to Kashmir Highway, and long queues of vehicles, including cargo vehicles, could be seen on a daily basis.

The PTI protests and sit-ins also caused immense inconvenience to the citizens, ambulances, motorists and travellers, who often entered into altercations with the PTI workers.

Passengers going to and from the Islamabad Airport also faced difficulties as the PTI workers also staged a sit-in near the Kashmir Highway.

On Twitter, Imran Khan instructed his party workers to end the sit-ins and open roads stating that "as our long march for Haqeeqi Azadi has resumed once again, I am calling on all our workers to end their road blockades with immediate effect."

After this, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum, who was present with the workers near Motorway M-1 Islamabad Lahore Toll Plaza, announced to end the protest and the sit-in.

Similarly, the protesters also ended the sit-in on the Motorway M-1 Islamabad-Peshawar section, and traffic was restored.

Motorway police also issued an advisory and stated that "Islamabad Peshawar Motorway (M-1) and Islamabad-Lahore Motorway (M-2) have been opened to traffic. Passengers and transporters breathed a sigh of relief when both sections of the motorway were opened and the traffic flowed."

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday expressed annoyance over the mismanagement of the Rawalpindi administration, closure of roads and shutting down of educational intuitions.

While hearing identical petitions against the closure of roads and educational institutions during the PTI protest, LHC judge Justice Waqas Rauf Mirza remarked that roads and educational institutions had been closed and the administration was sleeping.

The court asked the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner why he was acting as a facilitator for those who blocked the roads. Judge Justice Waqas said everyone has a right to a peaceful protest but the road blockade was not right.

The court inquired from the deputy commissioner and CCPO Rawalpindi what action did they take against those who blocked the roads.

The court said that students could not go to schools, colleges and universities and employees could not reach offices and patients also could not reach hospitals because of road blockades.

“Is this the state of Pakistan? Nobody will be allowed to block the roads illegally,” the judge remarked.

The court issued notices to the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner, the CPO and the DIG motorway and called them along with a detailed reply at the next hearing on November 16.

When the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner reached the court late, the judge expressed his annoyance and said that “this shows his efficiency”. Court inquired about the blocked roads.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2022.