RAWALPINDI: The relatives of a man killed on Sunday blocked the Islamabad Expressway on Monday to protest the police’s inability to arrest the killers. They were joined by hundreds of Sadiqabad residents.

The protest started at about 11 am and caused traffic jams on either side of the expressway.

Naveed Saeed, a 30-year-old owner of a welding shop was stabbed to death and his 25-year-old brother Tanveer Saeed injured by another shopkeeper and his accomplice in a dispute over money in Sadiqabad on Sunday. Tanveer was discharged from the hospital on Monday.

The victims’ father, Mohammad Saeed told Dawn he wanted justice and his son’s killers to be arrested.

Mr Saeed marched to Islamabad with more than 500 relatives, friends and notables of the area, who had gathered at the victims’ house and later placed the coffin on the expressway in protest.

Sadiqabad SHO Yasir Rabbani said the protest was not justified and termed it a ‘political show’, saying that political activists were also taking part in the protest. He said the victims’ father was confused about the identity of the killers and had not yet given the names of those who had killed his son.

On the other hand, Mohammad Saeed said the names of his son’s killers had been included in the FIR and that the police had not taken any action against the suspects.

Long queues of vehicles could be seen on either side of the expressway soon after the protest started as hundreds of commuters were stuck in a traffic jam. The traffic police managed to divert traffic onto other routes.

“I had a meeting at 11 and it now seems that I won’t even be able to make it in two hours,” said Jameel Ahmed, a commuter stuck in the traffic jam.

Another commuter, Bilal Mughal said he would have taken another route had he known about the protest and two ambulances were also stuck in the traffic jam.

“I was on my way to the bank to withdraw my salary, but I will not be able to due to the traffic jam,” said a resident, Amir Mehmood.

The protestors dispersed peacefully after a senior police official assured them that the killers will be brought to justice.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2016