Proximity to parliament: For PAT workers, a dream come true

Participants term experience of lodging in and around state buildings most memorable .

ISLAMABAD:

Normally, a common man cannot even think of entering the Parliament House due to its ‘sacrosanct status’, which is why it was a dream come true for many Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers who have the opportunity to live in and around the building.

PAT’s month-long sit-in on Constitutional Avenue made it possible for many workers to have a chance to enter the high-profile buildings inside the Red Zone and have a closer look at them, and even use them for amenities.

“In 65 years, I had never thought of getting a chance to spend some days of my life so close to this building,” said Rana Shaukat, a PAT worker from Karachi, while gesturing towards the Parliament House.

Shaukat is a retired army official and had worked for some years at the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi but never got a chance to visit this area of the capital.

“After the initial clashes with the police, we got a chance to go inside the Parliament House, set our tents in its huge lawns and spend a few nights there. This is the most memorable moment of my life,” he said.

However, he seemed concerned about heaps of garbage lying everywhere on Constitution Avenue.

“I want to see this place to be as clean and beautiful as it was before our arrival here,” he said, adding that it will happen soon after the ‘revolution’ for which they were on the street for the past month.

Another PAT worker, 36-year-old Mohammad Uzair, who has come from a village near Sargodha, seemed a bit more excited about spending his days in the proximity of the parliament.

“Everyday I take pictures of this building and send them to my friends and relatives in my village,” he said. It was a memorable experience for him and his friends when they entered the building’s lawns and took a bath there.

Shahid, another PAT worker, who has come from a village near Sialkot, said, “When we were at D-Chowk, we constantly looked at the building for hours thinking it was impossible to go inside it. But this sit-in has made everything possible,” he said with a sigh of relief.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.