RAWALPINDI: Police and protocol staff have been on alert during the last two days for the expected arrival of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, but he did not show up.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who uses a helicopter to traverse between Rawalpindi and Islamabad, was expected to visit the capital on Sunday afternoon but did not turn up due to unknown reasons.

As part of the security, police were deployed along the land route from Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) to Punjab House Islamabad, even though the chief minister uses helicopter.

Besides police deployment, the CM’s protocol staff, along with his motorcade arrived, at BBIA to receive him on Sunday. However, after waiting for him for several hours, the VIP security staff on the land route was called back at around 6pm and his protocol staff returned back to Islamabad.

The same exercise by the police was carried out on Monday, in the wake of CM’s expected visit to Islamabad.

On Monday, the police were deployed along the land route at about 1pm, and the motorcade also reached the airport. But again, after waiting for several hours, it returned back to Islamabad and the police security staff on the land route was called back at about 4:30pm.

When contacted, a senior police officer said that apparently adverse weather conditions had caused the chief minister to cancel his special flight.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2014