KARACHI, March 21: Some of the worst traffic jams were witnessed on various roads downtown on Wednesday evening when traffic police started closing certain arteries to ensure safe movement of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s motorcade while a political rally, organised by PPP, was in progress.

The traffic police enforced blockade of several roads in line with the overall security arrangements along the route of the PM’s motorcade from Sharea Faisal to the Governor’s House. Access to the main road from all fuelling stations along Sharea Faisal was also restricted by the law-enforcement agencies.

A section of Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road between PIDC and Shaheen Complex intersections was closed to traffic for a brief period and traffic was diverted to Aiwan-i-Sadr Road as M. R. Kyani Road was already blocked by a PPP rally being staged in front of the Supreme Court Registry.

A section of Regal Road was closed to facilitate the rally’s march which affected traffic flow on Zaibunnisa Street, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Din Mohammad Wafai Road and many other link roads for a couple of hours in the evening. Meanwhile, commuters and pedestrians continued to face inconvenience due to the closure of another section of Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road on account of the ongoing work to replace a sewerage line.

Closure of one track between S.M. Law College and Shaheen Complex intersection has aggravated the situation where people were already facing great hardship owing to the partial closure of Burns Garden Road