RAWALPINDI: A protest on Islamabad Expressway over the suicide attack on Imambargah Qasr-i-Sakina and the digging of an alternative VVIP route created such a traffic mess in the twin cities that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif needed a helicopter to reach his official residence in Islamabad from the Nur Khan Airbase on Thursday.

The prime minister returned to the federal capital from Quetta at around 3.30pm. According to official sources, due to the protest by the relatives of those killed in the terrorist attack, the Islamabad Expressway was blocked and the security deployment for the movement of the prime minister could not be made there.

An alternative VVIP route was planned from the Nur Khan Airbase to Islamabad via the Mall and Golra. But due to the digging of the Benazir Bhutto Road and the dilapidated condition of Rawal Road, the security establishment decided to airlift the prime minister to Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2015

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