ISLAMABAD: The main Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) rally led by its chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, which set off from Model Town in Lahore on Thursday, entered Islamabad city limits on Friday just before midnight.

The venue of the PAT gathering was the subject of much controversy all day Friday. Originally allocated a stretch of the Islamabad Expressway/8th Avenue, PAT leaders campaigned the whole day to try and shift their rallying point, first to Fazl-i-Haq Road (which runs alongside Blue Area) and then to Khayaban-i-Suharwardy (that runs alongside Kashmir Highway).

PAT media coordinator Ghulam Ali told Dawn: “It is our democratic right to hold a sit-in at Fazal-i-Haq Road because it is outside the Red Zone. We have given assurances that the sit-in will be peaceful, but the district administration has not cooperated with us.”

Dr Qadri had reportedly refused to hold his public meeting at Zero Point, where most PAT and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers had been gathering all day. As news of Dr Qadri’s arrival in the city began to spread, PAT workers camped out at Zero Point began to move roadblocks and headed towards Aabpara.

During the day, it was difficult to distinguish between PTI and PAT workers as both were scattered across the city. PAT buses were parked alongside Islamabad Expressway and in sectors G-7 and G-8, adjacent to Zero Point.

The administration did not divert traffic on Islamabad Highway, which irked motorists who came down the main artery, only to be confronted by demonstrators and roadblocks.

The rally also did not bear any of the hallmarks that one has come to associate with PAT. The party’s signature discipline was nowhere to be seen as workers and supporters roamed around the venue and outside it. There was no security at the venue either; all street lights were switched off and most people spent the better part of Friday night in the dark.

The local administration too seemed disinterested in the march. Police contingents were seen around the area where PAT workers were gathering, but there was no proper checking or frisking of people who wanted to access the rally venue. Walkthrough gates and volunteers, who had managed security for PAT the last time Dr Qadri led a sit-in in the capital, were absent this time around.

Street food vendors dominated the landscape, the crowds around their carts eclipsing all other activity at the venue.

The rain did not make things easier as most people rushed to seek shelter among the trees and in bus stops. “I have seen a number of PAT workers leaving the venue on their vehicles. I think many of them left to go home,” said Khaleeq Ahmed, a resident of the area.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014