Mourning day: PTI activists block major roads in twin cities

IJP Road, Islamabad Expressway and Kutchery Chowk bear the brunt.

RAWALPINDI: Workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) blocked several roads in Islamabad and Rawalpindi again on Tuesday to protest the killing of their party activist in Faisalabad a day before.

Hundreds of PTI supporters offered funeral prayers in absentia for the diseased person on IJ Principal Road at 3:45pm. After the prayers, they blocked the road by burning tyres at the CDA Stop and raised anti-government slogans.

Rauf Aslam, a protester, said they would force the prime minister’s resignation at all costs and blamed the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) for using violence against PTI workers.

The protesters kept the road blocked for around two hours.

Commuters and motorists also expressed their frustration at protesters were asking the police to clear them.

Manzoor Numan Wattoo, a commuter, said both PTI and PML-N were leading the country towards chaos. “The politics of confrontation will polarise society and affect the federation. Also, the PTI has done great injustice with the country by introducing abusive language in politics,” said Wattoo. He added that this would prove to be a zero sum game in the end. Long queues of vehicles could be seen stranded on the roads, with some going wrong way to get to their destinations.

Muhammad Shaukat, another commuter who was coming from Lahore, said there is an atmosphere of fear and people are panicky owing to the prevailing uncertain. “PTI is responsible for the violence in Faisalabad and now they are trying to do the same in other cities including Islamabad and Rawalpindi,” he said.

Other groups of PTI activists blocked Kutchery Chowk in Rawalpindi and the Islamabad Expressway. Heavy contingents of police were deployed at the protest sites where protesters dispersed and no clashes with police were reported.

A police official, who requested not to be named, told The Express Tribune that they had been asked to exercise maximum restraint and avoid use of force against the protesters. However, the police arrested two boys, identified as Kamran Malik and Ghulam Raza, from the CDA Stop. Their parents were requesting the police to set them free as they were just visitors and had no links with PTI. The police said they would free the youngsters within an hour.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2014.