HYDERABAD:
Thousands of vehicles brimming with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) supporters from across Sindh passed through Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts on Saturday, clogging traffic on the Super and National highways.
According to Intelligence Bureau estimates, more than 60,000 people in 1,510 cars, 1,600 vans, 275 trucks and 220 coaches passed through the Karachi-Hyderabad toll plaza between 7am and 12 noon, heading for the PPP rally at the Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi. Another intelligence source put the figure at between 75,000 and 80,000 people. Meanwhile, PPP leaders from various districts claimed that they had arranged 100 to 300 vehicles each to ferry party supporters to Karachi.
According to a motorway police spokesperson, the movement of traffic slowed down due to its heavy volume on the tracks leading to Karachi on both the highways. Traffic was blocked for several hours around the toll plaza in the afternoon, after which a large number of vehicles began to turn back instead of proceeding to Karachi. "The bad traffic management and an unusually high number of vehicles has made it impossible for us to proceed towards Karachi," lamented Sanaullah Rind, a PPP worker from Naushero Feroze district whose van was stuck in a gridlock on Hyderabad bypass. Meanwhile, more than 5,500 PPP supporters passed through the Hyderabad railway station in three trains. Although a bomb alert was issued from the railways divisional office in Karachi, no explosive device could be found by the bomb disposal squad.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2014.
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