RAWALPINDI: Residents of the garrison city and commuters between the twin cities had to face inconvenience due to closure of roads for Pakistan-South Africa cricket matches being played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

The district administration and traffic police made a traffic plan for the matches and closed Murree Road, Double Road and adjoining roads.

Under the plan, traffic was diverted while metro bus service was closed around Double Road during the movement of teams, which had led to traffic mess in other parts of the city. Though additional police force and traffic wardens had been deployed to ensure smooth flow of traffic, they seemingly were not able to handle the situation in the downtown areas.

The worst traffic mess occurred in the evening due to which residents faced difficulties. Long queues of vehicles were witnessed on Faizabad, Islamabad Expressway, Rawal Road and from Chandni Chowk to Shamsabad.

Taxi drivers refused to go to Murree Road due to the traffic rush while a large number of people were seen walking on foot due to absence of public transport vehicles.

Mohammad Shafique, a resident of Double Road, said for the last two days, “we were facing problems due to closure of road. Because of the situation, we remained confined to our houses from evening till late night.”

He said they had to use alternative routes to reach their homes, but even then they were stuck in the worst kind of traffic jam. In the evening, traffic police closed Faizabad Interchange, therefore we had to use the road from Sadiqabad to Sixth Road and then the rear side of Double Road.

Raja Riaz, a resident of Shamsabad, said he had to use Kuri Road to return home from Blue Area as the local administration had closed the roads.

He said his daughter had to face a lot of difficulty to reach her academy due to the traffic mess on Sixth Road.

On the other hand, traders have demanded that the cricket stadium be shifted out of the city as their businesses were affected due to closure of roads.

“For the last three days, police and district administration had been forcing shopkeepers on Murree Road and Double Road to close their shops during the matches, and also when the teams were practicing or during their movements,” Rawalpindi Traders Association President Shahid Ghafoor Paracha told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2025