ISLAMABAD: For more than three months, the residents of Islamabad have been facing containers on roadsides waiting to be used for the closure of roads, creating fear and uncertainty about the situation next day. But the recent two days have been the worst as even mobile phone services were not available throughout Friday and Saturday.

The residents have regularly witnessed sealing of the city during past several months, but the authorities left no turn and pathway unattended on Friday, creating difficulties even for motorcyclists to move within Islamabad.

Plying between Rawalpindi and Islamabad was nothing less than a challenge. Caught in the middle of political struggle, the ordinary residents suffered severely.

“My sister was discharged from hospital after a serious operation on Friday morning and it took two hours for us to reach home,” said Mohammad Asghar, a resident of DHA.

“The worst part is that even mobile phones were not working. There was no data network available and one can imagine the condition of those waiting for us at home,” he added.

Incidentally, the sufferers of the situation do not necessarily related to patients and stranded women and children, many waiting for happiest occasions of their lives too were among the sufferers of road blockades.

“This has become a catch 22 situation for us - nobody knows what to do,” said Rao Tanvir, manager at a marriage hall at Islamabad Expressway.

“We had a marriage booking of 300 guests and on Friday morning the party told us to reduce the number of guests, but how can we do it? The food is prepared and ready to be cooked in the evening,” Mr Tanvir expressed his concerns.

He added that nobody could anticipate the situation a week earlier.

“On the other hand, if the booking is made for less number of guests in advance and the political party withdraws its Islamabad protest even a day earlier, how will the host face their friends and relatives,” he added.

Whereas a couple of matrimonial events had to be cancelled in some marriage halls of the area as either the groom or the bride’s sides were arriving from adjoining areas, and they could not even reach the outskirts of Islamabad.

Regarding suspension of telephone service, a senior official of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told Dawn that such actions were only taken if there were reports by security agencies.

“The interior ministry had forwarded a demand that telephone services have to be suspended due to serious security threats in Islamabad on Thursday. Later, PTA was informed that threats had subsided after sunset and the services were restored.” PTA official said.

A similar lockdown was faced by the residents on September 28, and before that it was on September 6 due to the public gathering calls by the PTI.

Traders of the city held a shutter-down strike against a new taxation regime by the FBR on August 28. On August 19, workers of various religious organisations including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan (JUI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) under the banner of Majlis Tahaffuz-i-Khatme Nabuwwat protested against a decision of the Supreme Court (SC) in the Mubarak Sani case. The protesters marched from D-Chowk, entered the Red Zone and reached the judges gate of the Supreme Court.

“All this is irritating - and both the PTI and the government are responsible for creating a mess of life for all,” said Dr Rabia Malik, a resident of Islamabad.She missed the appointment of her patient and later in the evening missed her flight to Karachi.

“The point is I cannot just sit on a motorcycle and take a ride on katcha - pacca road,” Dr Malik added. “The other serious issue is the fear that has been created due to these containers.

Not all city closure has been due to the PTI. On July 26, Jamaat-i-Islami started its protests against inflated utility bills and taxes and entered Islamabad amid road blocks at various points around Faizabad, halting public life at Murree Road and between the twin cities.

Later that day, the party decided to turn back and stage a sit-in at Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi, but the roads of Islamabad were cleared of containers after 10pm that day.

Around two weeks prior to the JI march, the Faizabad interchange was occupied by Tehreek-i-Lubbaik Pakistan (TLP) for several days, creating difficulties for traffic between the twin cities. The TLP had blocked Faizabad from July 13 -19 demanding government aid to Palestine, banning Israeli products and to declare the Israeli PM as a terrorist.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Islamabad are adamant upon using the old tactic that the only way to deal with any political or apolitical agitation was to impose section 144, ban pillion riding on motorcycles, shut down telephone services and block roads with containers irrespective of its impact on the citizens.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024