TAXILA, Nov 9: Commuters in the cities of Taxila, Wah Cantt, Gujar Khan, Jhelum, Dina, Sohawa, Mandra, Kalar Syedan, Kahuta and Attock on Friday underwent great ordeal as a result of nine-hour-long road blockades by police to prevent Pakistan People’s Party workers from attending their scheduled rally at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.
The GT road was also blocked at Attock bridge and Haro bridge to stop PPP workers coming from Peshawar, Attock and adjourning areas from taking part in the rally. At Attock bridge, the vehicular traffic remained suspended for 14 hours.
The police put up heavy containers on the roads leading to Rawalpindi creating massive traffic jam that left hundreds of commuters stranded at various entry points at Hassanabdal including GT road near Convent School and Hazara road near Jehri Kass check post.
Earlier, heavy contingent of police reached GT road and Hazara road at 8am and raised heavy containers besides unloading trucks of sands in the middle of the roads leading to Rawalpindi.
Two to three-km-long queues of vehicles were seen at Grand trunk and Hazara road. The road was opened at 4 p.m.
In Gujar Khan city and other towns of the tehsil the situation remained calm as no procession or rally of the PPP workers could be brought out. The local workers of the PPP had either gone underground or secretly reached Rawalpindi late on Thursday night.
However the police authorities who had been busy in raiding the houses of the PPP, PML(N) workers and lawyers for the last three days, on Friday morning raised obstacles at the GT road and highways to disallow passage of all sort of Rawalpindi-bound traffic.
In Jhelum area the Jhelum bridge, Dina-Mangal road, Tarakki toll plaza, Sohawa-Chakwal road, Pind Dadan Khan-Jhelum road, in Gujar Khan, Guliana-Gujar Khan road, Mandra-Chakwal road, While in Rawat; Kalar Syedan-Rawat road and Chakbele-Rawat road were blocked.
The traffic from AJ&K was blocked at Dhan Galli bridge near Dhadial. Azad Pattan road was also blocked for traffic from Palandri and Kotli areas of AJK.
The marriage processions bound for Rawalpindi were also checked and in some cases the PPP workers travelling along with marriage parties under the guise of guests were arrested by the Jhelum police.
Patients, ladies, children and old men were the worst sufferers due to long-hour blockade.
However in some cases the police high ups allowed ambulances and senior citizens to travel. The road blockade was lifted after 5.30 pm.
The Attock Bridge on main GT Road was completely blocked by containers, causing problems for the general public.
Heavy police force was also deployed at others entry points of district Attock including Haro bridge on main GT Road, Shergarh Bridge on Kohat-Pindi Road and Jahrikus at Hazara-Pindi Road, to restrict the expected processions/rallies from NWFP.
Interestingly, railway crossings on the above-mentioned roads were also closed, which created hardships for the transporters carrying goods and passengers. Even the ambulances and patients were not allowed to cross despite their repeated requests.
Police had also set up check posts at various points inside the Attock city including Teenmela Mor, Haji Shah, Hattian, Lawrencepur Chowk and Hazara Chowk to check the movement of local PPP leaders and workers, causing great difficulties for the local vehicular traffic.
Later, all the obstacles were removed from the Attock Bridge and other points at about 7 pm.
Meanwhile, the PPP leaders and lawyers condemned the blocking of roads to stop them from attending the Rawalpindi public meeting. They accused the government of harassing the peaceful workers and leaders of opposition parties instead of resolving the ongoing political crisis peacefully.
They urged the rulers to avoid creating an atmosphere of political confrontation in the country, which, they said, was against the national interest.
Some of party activists and leaders, including PPP central leader Malik Hakmeen Khan, pre-empted the government move and left for Rawalpindi a day before to attend the public meeting.