ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s sit-ins in the capital have led to a general uncertainty about whether it is safe to travel to or through the twin cities, inconveniencing many travellers, who have to come to town on business or are returning from vacations up north.

“I’m currently driving down from Gilgit via the Karakoram Highway,” Ali Bajwa, a Lahore-based lawyer, told Dawn on Tuesday evening. Mr Bajwa left for a road trip with some friends to the Hunza Valley last week.

“Before we left Lahore, I was unsure if we would be able to cross the capital, but found the Motorway clear all the way to Peshawar,” he said.

“On our way back, we’ve figured out that we don’t even need to enter Islamabad. The Karakoram Highway will take us to Mansehra, from where we can take the G.T. Road to Burhan and then onto the Motorway, without getting tangled up in the sit-ins that have crippled the capital city,” he said.

But not everyone vacationing up north is as lucky. Masooma Taqi, who was holidaying in the hill-station of Bhurban, told Dawn she was quite apprehensive about the drive back to Lahore.

“There is just no way around Islamabad if one is driving down from Murree. I’ve heard that Murree Road is also blocked at Bhara Kahu. The only other option available to us is to take the long way around and try to reach the Motorway via Abbottabad and Hasanabdal,” she said.

It’s not just vacationers whose plans have been disturbed by the PTI and PAT’s extended sit-ins.

Mehrunisa Shakeel was supposed to fly from Karachi to Islamabad for a business meeting, but has been postponing her visit due to the uncertainty prevailing in the capital.

“I’m not worried about the Azadi March, I’m more concerned with what the government might do and I don’t want to get caught up in the fallout,” she said.

The Islamabad Expressway, the road nearly everyone uses to get from the capital to the airport, is severely crowded with vehicles as containers placed at the Faizabad Interchange have severely impeded the flow of traffic.

Ms Shakeel told Dawn she was supposed to drive from Islamabad to Lahore as well, but did not feel comfortable making the journey under the present circumstances.

Shahzad Ahmad, who runs a non-government organisation in Islamabad, told Dawn his work was greatly affected.

“We opened the office on Tuesday after nearly a week of living in fear, but the situation was the same again,” he said.

Mr Ahmad, who drives to the capital every morning from his residence in Wah Cantt, said that the containers placed on G.T. Road make it impossible for most people to cross.

“Locals like myself, who are familiar with the back roads that go through villages and small towns, were able to get home. But I had to leave the capital by 2pm in order to make it back, otherwise I may have been trapped as well,” he said.

“On my way out of Islamabad, I saw a massive traffic jam at Golra Roundabout and the I-9 junction on Kashmir Highway. The government doesn’t tell citizens which roads are blocked and which are not, causing confusion. This whole affair has just been very badly managed,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014