Busy spot: Scaling Margallas an uphill task

Scores of policemen, vans, scaring off hikers; cops, van drivers just want to go home.

ISLAMABAD:

The ongoing sit-ins and protests by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) on Constitution Avenue have also led to the conversion of one of the city’s most-famous hiking tracks, trail 5, into a bus parking lot.

The entrance on Margalla Road and the large parking lot and paved area nearby have been occupied by the Punjab police and their police vans since August 19, when PAT and PTI marchers moved to D-Chowk from Aabpara.

“Every evening we come here to have a break from the world and take a breath of fresh air in peace, but the presence of so many policemen and their buses has started increasing our stress levels,” said Saad Hussain, a resident of sector F-6/3.

He said the hiking trails are actually recreational spots where people come to relax, take a walk and forget about the stresses of life.

“These buses have been parked here for the last 20 days. They don’t make hikers feel relaxed, they make us feel fear and uncertainty,” he said.

Amna Ahmed, a regular hiker said, “The sit-ins have not only physically-damaged the capital, but they are also affecting the mental health of citizens.”

For two weeks, she had stopped coming to trail 5 because of the sheer number of policemen sitting around the entrance area and the number of vans in the parking lot.

“I don’t know why, but the number of policemen made me to feel more insecure. That is why I decided to stop coming here for a while,” she said.

At a time when there is so much uncertainty and fear in the air, such areas serve as a little slice of heaven, where while one can spend hours to get rid of stress, depression, she said, adding that this liberty has also been snatched from them.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a Punjab police official who asked not to be named said, “Many hikers coming here usually change their plans when they see us and our vans in the parking lot.”

He said that during the early days of the sit-ins, policemen deployed at a nearby check post would mislead people by saying the trail had been closed.

“Now, people come here and ask us whether or not it is to go up the hill,” he said.

The police official further said that for the last 20 days, they have been deployed there and are forced have to spend all day sitting there.

“In the evening, we usually spend our time slapping mosquitoes and avoiding wild boars roaming around,” he said. Without taking side, he said he just wanted the sit ins to end so that he could go back to his hometown and hug his children.

Bus driver miseries

A few metres away, the lives of two dozen bus drivers and conductors who brought the Punjab Police to town in their private buses have become miserable.

Their buses have been parked at the trail-5 parking lot.

“We were forced to bring the policemen in our buses. It has been a month now that we have been away from our families,” said Younas*, a bus driver from Okara.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said that they spend 18 hours on the trail-5 parking lot and at night they take the policemen to a government college in sector F-10 where they are staying, then bring them here again  in the morning.

“They have not given us rooms so we spend nights in our buses. Life has become terribly difficult. We are tired and feel more like prisoners. Every morning I pray that these protests come to an end so that we can go back,” he said.

He said the Punjab government is paying Rs2,700 per day as rent for the bus, but this money is being given to the owners of the buses, not them. “On normal working days, I earn between Rs3,000 and Rs4,000, but now I hardly make Rs500, due to which I am unable to send money to my wife to cover household expenses and buy books for my daughter,” he said, adding that he tries to buy her a new book every day when he is home.

Masud*, another bus driver said, “This is one of the worst experiences of my life. Sometimes I just want to run away from here.” He appealed to the Punjab Government to let them go home.

Goon games

Ashfaq*, another driver, claimed that majority of the PAT workers are members of a regional political party and were forced to participate in the protest. He also claimed that the PAT workers’ buses were “full of sticks and clubs with nails in them and other weapons that were used in the clashes with the police.

“You cannot imagine what some of the people who have come in the name of sit-in are doing here,” he said.

*Names changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2014.