ISLAMABAD: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman directed the party workers late on Thursday night to open the highways, but set a deadline of 9am on Friday (today) for the government to release the arrested party leaders and activists.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the joint opposition, Maulana Fazl said if the government didn’t release the party people by 9am, he would again give a call to his workers to block the highways.

Accompanied by BNP chief Akhtar Mengal, the Maulana said he was announcing end of the protest keeping in view the hardships faced by the commuters, including women and children.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Bar Association asked lawyers to boycott courts on Friday to protest the manhandling of former SCBA president and JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza during police action at Parliament Lodges.

Earlier, enraged JUI-F workers blocked roads and highways in different parts of the country. They blocked the Hazara Motorway, Mad­ran-Peshawar Motor­way, Nawab Shah-Sakrand Road, and Pak-Afghan Highway at Jamrud.

All highways linking Balochistan with Sindh and Punjab were blocked by the JUI-F workers at various points. Traffic was suspen­ded between Quetta and Ka­­rachi after the JUI-F activists blocked the Natio­nal Highway at Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar Uthal and Hub.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022