SWABI/TIMERGARA: Huge shipping containers have been placed on the roadside at different points in Swabi and Lower Dir to stop the participants of Azadi March from going to Islamabad.

The containers had been placed near Swabi Interchange and Hamlet village. Policemen were also deployed there, they added.

Sources said that roads leading to Islamabad would be blocked at three places -- Ghazi, Swabi Interchange and Karnal Sher Khan Interchange.

Some officials on condition of anonymity told Dawn that the containers were placed in Hamlet village on the edge of the road. Similarly, the containers have also been placed at Swabi Interchange.

They said when the road would be blocked at Hamlet, the marchers would not be able to use the GT Road or motorway. Likewise, when the roads are blocked at Karnal Sher Khan Interchange and Swabi Interchange, the flow of the people would be stopped to Islamabad.

JUI-F central deputy chief Maulana Fazl Ali, when contacted, said that despite various tactics and strategies of the government, they would emerge winners. He said that the ground was ready for protest and the leaders and workers of the opposition parties were on the same page to support Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s call for Azadi March.

In Lower Dir, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has placed heavy shipping containers along the road near Chakdara Bridge and the entry point of Swat Motorway at Pul Chowky.

Two containers were placed near Chakdara Bridge while three more heavy shipment containers were placed along the Swat Motorway near Pul Chowky to block the road from all sides.

The situation has worried the members of Tableeghi Jumaat belonging to Lower Dir, Upper Dir and Bajaur whose annual congregation will be started on October 30.

Yousaf Khan, a member of Tableeghi Jumaat hailing from Dheri Talash, told Dawn that his colleagues were worried about the situation.

He said that they wished to attend the congregation in Raiwind but it seemed difficult for them to participate in the event as government was planning to block the roads.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2019