RAWALPINDI: After a three-day closure for peaceful conduct of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, all major roads and traffic diversion routes were reopened on Wednesday night, City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani said.

The roads were closed due to security reasons.

“Every police official of the Rawalpindi police worked tirelessly day and night to ensure security deserves credit for ensuring foolproof security as they ,” CPO said.

He also thanked citizens, businessmen and all civil societies of Rawalpindi for their excellent cooperation.

On behalf of Rawalpindi police he said that he also thanked the Pakistan Army, security agencies and district administration who supported the police in carrying out this important responsibility.

More than 3500 police personnel had been deployed in the garrison city to ensure a state of high level of security alert.

Five major roads – Koral Chowk, Gulzar-i-Quaid Road, Airport Road (Ammar Chowk to Koral Chowk/Expressway), Chohan Chowk/FWO towards old airport, Fauji Foundation chowk towards the airport – were closed for traffic during the summit at different times. As a result, traffic was diverted on alternative routes.

Entry of heavy vehicles was also banned in the city which caused long queues of vehicles in Mandra and Chak Beli areas.

The closure of roads and business activities along the route and Murree Road caused inconvenience to people as the business activities in the downtown city areas which were not closed by the administration also remained dull during three days.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024