ISLAMABAD: As all other roads leading to the Secretariat and other government buildings in the Red Zone remained closed due to the protest sit-ins, Margalla Road witnessed traffic jams on Monday.

Thin attendance was also observed in the government offices. The Supreme Court benches had to adjourn a number of cases as lawyers could not reach there on time.

It may be noted that since August 15, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have been holding the sit-ins in the federal capital.

On the other hand, the government has sealed three entry points to the Red Zone – from Diplomatic Enclave, Radio Pakistan and Pak Secretariat – to avoid any attempt by the protesters to enter the high security area.

As the offices opened on Monday, the government employees had to use Margalla Road to reach their workplaces.

However, one side of this road also remained closed.

Shafique Ahmed, a government servant, while talking to Dawn said though there was no rush of traffic elsewhere in the federal capital, Margalla Road remained choked.

“It took almost 25 minutes to cross the one kilometre area near the Red Zone in which traffic was jammed,” he said.

“It was a hot day so the air conditioning systems of old cars stopped working. People seemed perturbed and were asking each other what was going on in the country,” he said.

Some people parked their vehicles at sectors G-6/3 and G-6/4 and preferred entering the Red Zone on foot.

Sajid Shah, another government employee, said there was hardly one-foot space between two containers placed near Radio Pakistan.

“I managed to cross the narrow space along with some other people and reached my office in the Red Zone,” he said.

The thin attendance in the offices was also attributed to the confusion among employees over Monday being a public holiday.

Aurangzeb Khan, who works at the Secretariat, said more than 50 per cent employees did not come to work.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2014