Life on Constitution Avenue: While some seek revolution, others search for clean toilets and a hot meal

Locals open their homes to party workers; ‘political cousins’ help each other

ISLAMABAD:

When the food comes, the men who are taller, better built, jostle their way to the front. The others wait silently. They take whatever food is left over in the end. Even as Constitution Avenue has become home to hundreds of supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), party workers say it is easy enough to distinguish between the two groups – especially at meal times, when vehicles loaded with rations arrive at the sit-ins.

“PAT workers follow whatever their leader tells them,” said Masood, a PTI worker from Kohat who works with the party’s central cell and is dealing with security arrangements at the sit-in. “The sun can be shining but they will agree if Dr Qadri says it is night time.”

He explains, “The PAT workers have a spiritual relationship with their leader while we have an ideological connection with the party. There is no option of saying ‘no’ in PAT, while PTI workers, like Javed Hashmi, are free to disagree with Imran Khan.” But, he says, this freedom is one of the reasons for the comparative indiscipline between PAT and PTI workers, especially when food is distributed.

Supporters say many local workers have tried to help wherever they can and they have not slept hungry throughout the sit-in. One female volunteer regularly arrives at the sit-in venue bearing food, they say, while other local workers have invited protestors to their homes to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner.

These visits get protesters a hot meal, as well as an added bonus: access to toilet facilities. “We have had no washrooms since the rally changed its location from Parade Avenue to Constitution Avenue,” said 23-year-old Hamza Khan, who came to Islamabad via Peshawar when the Azadi March began.  He does what many others do, hiding behind trees and bushes when nature calls. “Had the party workers come to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we would have opened our doors to them,” says Hamza’s friend Rahatullah, also 23 years old. “But today is the first day since the sit-in that I was invited to someone’s home to use the washroom.”

Bakht Nasir, a 25-year-old M Phil student at Quaid-e-Azam University, says he has taken many party workers to his hostel for short stays. “It is banned in my dorms, but since many of the workers are my age, it has not been a problem entering the university grounds,” he says. Others have taken to social media, posting messages on sites like Facebook or Twitter sharing their residential address and giving party workers permission to use the facilities at their homes.

Adnan Athar, a resident of Rawalpindi, said that while PAT workers have remained at the venue throughout the sit-in, PTI workers arrive in the evening and usually depart around midnight. “I have taken many of the PTI supporters to my home and will continue to take them whenever they are in need,” he said.

Some party workers have also extended help to their fellow protesters, regardless of party affiliation. “The participants of the rallies have been declared ‘political cousins’,” said Dua Khan, a resident of Islamabad. “I was not able to take any of the supporters to my home yet but I have brought clothes for the PAT girls,” she said, adding, “I will do as much as I can to help our fellow protesters out.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2014.