June 14, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429

RAWALPINDI, June 13: The lawyers’ long march on Friday brought business activities and routine life in the twin cities to a virtual halt as the lawyers and political activists swamped almost all roads, triggering closure of commercial markets and flow of public transport.

Shops along Murree Road in Pindi were completely shut down while commercial centres in Sadder remained partially closed.

There was no public transport, causing severe inconvenience to commuters particularly those travelling between the two cities, while school buses also remained off the road. The district administration of Rawalpindi extended full support to the participants of the march and provided water tankers to the camps set up by the activists of various political parties and lawyers.

Moreover, vehicles of Rawal town municipal administration were used by supporters and workers of PML-N, JI and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) in fixing portraits and banners of political leaders on highrise buildings and towers.

DCO Rawalpindi Jamal Mustafa was seen inspecting camps set up in the city while police officials were on patrol for ensuring safety to the participants of the march. In Islamabad, the commercial markets like Aabpara, Melody, Blue area and Super Market were closed while petrol pumps situated along the routes of the long march were also shut down.

All the main roads remained closed for traffic while there was also shortage of fuel due to disruption on supplies.

Hundreds of people were forced to move on foot because of presence of thin public transport.

Public transport moved between Rawalpindi and Islamabad in the morning only, while vehicles plying on different roads came to a halt after the long march participants started entering the capital city in the afternoon from Rawat.

People were seen stranded in large numbers at Zero Point, Aabpara Chowk and Peshawar Mor.

Passengers who were stranded at various bus stops were not able to hire taxis even on higher charges because there was no space on the road due to caravans of lawyers and political activists.

Abdul Sami, a government servant working in the red zone area, said he had been waiting for the public transport for the last two hours but there was no vehicle on the road.

Various petrol pumps near the long march area were shut down. However, some stations also stopped the sale of fuel saying there had been disruption in supply due to the long march.

The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) closed entry to the 7th Avenue from Kashmir Highway which affected smooth flow of traffic while many people were forced to use long routes to reach their destinations. The ITP officials moved quickly on closing and opening of various U-turns which were closed for the last many months including one at Aabpara chowk.