Pakistan

Lockdown: Capital workers take unannounced holiday

Attendance in govt offices thin, universities give day off.

Danish Hussain June 24, 2014

ISLAMABAD:

Thousands of government employees observed an ‘unannounced’ public holiday on Monday after the administration put the city on tenterhooks ahead of the arrival of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik chief.

Almost all federal ministries, departments and autonomous bodies witnessed very thin attendance. All the universities in the capital also announced holidays on Monday after the news of roads closures was announced late on Sunday.

Keeping in view the precarious law-and-order situation in the twin cities, the federal departments did not roll out buses meant to pick and drop government employees.

“As most of the staff at federal government departments hail from Rawalpindi, it was impossible for them to reach the capital as both cities had virtually been locked down,” said NAB Media Additional Director Ramzan Sajid.

He said that employees living in Islamabad were able to make it to the office, adding that NAB buses on Islamabad routes were operational.

Sheikh Ali Afzal, a NADRA employee who managed to reach the office from Rawalpindi on his motorcycle, said he had to face a lot of hurdles entering the capital. He said that only emergency staff could reach the office as no public transport was available.

Kamran Qureshi, an admin officer at the Capital Development Authority, said that while trying to reach the office from Rawalpindi, he checked three different entry points to Islamabad but all were closed. “After observing the situation, I decided to just go back home,” Qureshi said.

Attendance at CDA headquarters was below five per cent, said a civic agency official.

Similarly, most public and private sector universities had announced holiday late on Sunday night in view of the possible law and order situation on Monday.

Over the weekend, Quaid-e-Azam University, NUST, NUML, Federal Urdu University and other public and private universities announced that Monday would be a holiday.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2014.