NATO supply route reopening: With DPC in town, traffic in twin cities to be disrupted

Police on their toes to keep some leaders out of city; predict traffic mess; Blue Area traders to suffer۔

ISLAMABAD: The Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), a consortium of religious political parties including a few groups accused of espousing extremism, is likely to march in Islamabad on Monday with hundreds of activists and supporters to protest the reopening of NATO supply routes.

The long march is expected to leave Gujrat at 10am and reach Islamabad after passing through Lala Musa, Kharian, Sarai Alamgir, Jhelum, Dina, Sohawa and Gujar Khan. A route for the marchers has been mutually sorted out by the organisers and the city government which has put security arrangements in place.

In a plan discussed and devised by the Interior Ministry, the marchers would enter Islamabad from Faizabad and will reach Parade Avenue after passing through the Islamabad Expressway and Jinnah Avenue. However, the DPC rally is once again expected to disturb city life by forcing the early closures of trade centres in certain areas and road blockades, forcing changes in the traffic plan, while the city police will have to be on their toes to look out for leaders and members of banned organisations from entering Islamabad.

“The DPC leadership has assured that marchers will remain peaceful and would not leave the designated route,” said a statement released by the office of Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik, who chaired a meeting to devise a security plan for the day. Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel will be deployed on the route alongside the police.

The city government has asked shops in Blue Area to close at 4pm on Monday as the rally would likely arrive at the venue around this time.

However, all entry and exit points of the city will be sealed after 6pm and people would only be allowed to pass after strict checking. In Rawalpindi, Benazir Bhutto Road, commonly known as Murree Road, will be closed for traffic after 3pm, according to directives issued by the city’s Chief Traffic Officer Ishtiaq Shah.

Rally participants coming from Murree will also enter the city from the Faizabad entry point. “Traffic is likely to be problematic the whole day, but after 4pm it is not advisable to use the Islamabad Expressway,” said a police official.

Members of banned organisations like Malik Ishaq of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and leaders of other organisations that are high on the Interior Ministry watch list would not be allowed to enter the capital, police said.

“Their presence and subsequent address to the participants may give rise to law and order problems. Therefore, they would not be granted entry,” said the police official, who did not want to be named.

Aerial surveillance of the Jinnah Avenue, the venue for the rally, will be carried out by four helicopters provided by the ministry. Two more choppers will be given to the Rawalpindi police for surveillance of entry points from their side.

A special cell in the ministry would monitor the arrangements through CCTV cameras to be installed at different points along the route of the rally.

Any participant of the rally found violating the security protocols set by the city government will be arrested, said the police, adding that no vehicles will be allowed to be parked within 500 metres of the venue for the rally.

With additional reporting by Mudassir Raja

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.