LAHORE: Punjab in general and Lahore in particular came to a grinding halt on Saturday after the entire intercity bus operations — particularly the routes leading to Islamabad and Rawalpindi were suspended following the nationwide protest call by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for Nov 24 (Sunday).

On the other hand, the people in Lahore, especially those commuting to and from Lahore daily for work faced terrible inconvenience after they found all major roads and intercity bus terminals closed. Even those travelling on personal transport also faced great inconvenience while exiting or entering the provincial capital.

“I used to visit Lahore from Sheikhupura daily due to a job in a private firm. But, today (Saturday), I found no transport for Sheikhupura from anywhere due to the closure of the exit points with containers placed by the authorities,” a man said while speaking to Dawn.

“I also tried hard to hire a private taxi but no one was ready to move because of the roads’ closure and fear of the authorities and violence,” he said.

Metrobus operations squeezed; intercity bus services suspended

According to Regional Transport Authority Secretary Rana Mohsin, the city bus terminals have not been closed by the administration and the transport owners closed their intercity bus operations on their own.

“While whole motorways — M-2 and M-1 (Lahore-Islamabad and Islamabad Peshawar), M-3 (Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad-Khanewal) and M-4 (Lahore-Abdul Hakim-Khanewal onwards) -- and others are closed, how the transporters can operate their buses. This situation has ultimately closed the entire inter-city bus operations from Lahore. Similarly, none of the intercity transport is operative from other cities to Lahore and Islamabad,” he explained, adding that the Lahore Ring Road, which also linked the Lahore-Islamabad, Sialkot, Abdul Hakim etc from various interchanges has also been closed.

Talking to Dawn, a senior official of the Lahore Ring Road Authority confirmed closure of the road from all interchanges starting from Batti Chowk to Multan Road.

“The closure of the Ring Road has been made after a decision made by the authority. However, those wanting to reach Lahore airport or other spots/localities along the Ring Road are using other city roads, especially the Cantt areas,” he said.

Since the intercity transport has already been closed, the Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMA) also squeezed the metro bus operations from Gajjumata to MAO College. It was done due to closure of roads near Batti Chowk/Shahdara.

“From the MAO College to Shahdara, there would be no operation till opening of the road which has been closed by placing containers,” said PMA General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah while talking to this reporter. He, however, said the operation of Lahore Orange Line train would continue in case of no disturbance related to law and order situation on the route.

Meanwhile, the security at Lahore Railway Station has been beefed up after a huge number of passengers thronged it in a bid to reach to various destinations from Lahore to other cities.

A number of police officials have been deployed to check arrival/departure of trains, especially the passenger ones.

“Dozens of police officials of railways and Lahore Police, headed by the respective station house officers, have been deployed at the main and Cantt stations. The police officials have been advised to stop entry of suspicious people in the guise of passengers at the railway stations,” an official source in the PR police told Dawn.

On the other hand, the inter-city transport to other cities, including Multan, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and DG-Khan, has also been suspended after the roads leading to Islamabad and Rawalpindi were blocked with containers. The country’s leading bus company has also closed its entire bus operations from Karachi to Peshawar and other cities.

“Since all roads, including motorways are closed, the company is left with no option but to suspend its entire bus operations across the country,” said a Multan-based senior staffer of the company while talking to this reporter.

“All buses at our terminal have been parked since there is no operation,” he said, adding that the situation had caused great inconvenience to the people intending to reach various cities from Multan, including Lahore, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Sahiwal.

Most wedding functions, especially the Baraats coming from various cities to Shahdara, Kasur, Phoolnagar, Sheikhupura etc, failed to reach Lahore, forcing the families to cancel the functions. According to various media reports, the marriage hall owners were abruptly asked by the families to cancel the event following closure of roads

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024