FAZAL SHER
ISLAMABAD: Workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued the blockade of roads leading to the capital city for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in protest against the assassination attempt on PTI chief Imran Khan during a long march. The major protest was staged on Murree Road, Rawalpindi, which leads directly to Islamabad. The PTI activists blocked the road by placing chairs and burning tyres. Other protests were staged at Shamsabad, IJP Road, Koral Interchange, Taxila GT Road, GolraMor, Rawat, ChakBeli Khan, Mandi Mor, Motorway Chowk, and other areas.
The protesters bearing placards, banners, and party flags have chanted slogans against the federal government and in favour of the chairman of the PTI. The protests were led by PTI leaders, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, Haji Amjad, Chaudhry Adnan, Raja Basharat, and other leaders.
The protesters expressed solidarity with Imran Khan and demanded to register the first information report (FIR) of the incident as per their demand.
To maintain law and order and avoid any untoward incident, heavy contingents of police, Frontier Constabulary (FC), and Rangers were deployed at Faizabad and other protest sites.
Due to the PTI protests, public life was affected, especially in Rawalpindi including Murree Road, Shamsabad, and Pirwadhai Chowk.
Police spokesman said that traffic was being diverted towards alternative routes due to the protest.
Additional personnel of traffic were also deployed along with diversion arrangements to keep traffic flowing at protest sites, said the spokesman.
However, the traffic jam witnessed on different roads, especially in Rawalpindi was not as much as witnessed on Monday as the district administration of Rawalpindi had announced two holidays for all educational institutions on account of the prevailing law and order situation in the city.
According to a notification issued on Monday, all public and private schools and colleges would remain closed for two days.
The district administration spokesman said that due to the prevailing law and order situation of the country the competent authority has decided that all educational institutions (government as well as private) situated within Tehsil Rawalpindi would remain closed for two days.
Meanwhile, the city police also put security on high alert, especially in the Red Zone and generally across the city.
At least 13,086 personnel including 4,199 Islamabad police officials, 1,022 from Sindh police, 4,265 Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel, and 3,600 Rangers have been deployed in different areas of the capital.
The city police also continued the search operation in different parts of the city and took some suspected people into custody.
