Islamabad - With the sit-ins receding, the life in the federal capital seems to be returning to normalcy, as roads around the Red Zone finally gained normal traffic flow on Wednesday after the city administration removed all the containers from the area.
Complying with the orders of Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan given a day earlier, the city administration removed all the containers which had been placed at different points of the city to block way of the protesters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to the Red Zone some 65 days ago.
However, the containers placed at the Constitution Avenue would not be removed due to security reasons.
The announcement by the interior minister to clear the city roads came after majority of the protestors left the Red Zone, a venue which remained a hub of anti-government political activities for weeks. The protestors demanding resignation of the prime minister in the leadership of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PAT Chairman Tahir-ul-Qadri have erected tents to brace weather hardships, giving the venue a look of tent village.
However, as the marchers could not force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif out of power despite hectic political campaign, the leadership of the PTI and PAT opted for rallies in other cities and the former particularly allowed its ‘tiring’ workers to join the camp in the afternoon only.
On the other hand, Qadri’s camp is also giving a deserted look after the PAT chief also decided to spread its message in other cities and towns of the country.
Only a few dozens of PTI workers assigned with the security duties can be seen roaming around the tents at the Constitution Avenue.
A great number of PTI supporters have already left the protest venue. Qadri is out of city and plans to reach the capital on October 16 only to leave the venue again to address another public rally in Lahore on October 19.
Two months earlier, the government had blocked the main roads of the city with more than 600 containers to halt the long march of the PTI and the PAT. However, PTI and PAT protesters had managed to enter the blocked area by removing the containers.
The locations from where containers have been removed include Pakistan Television Road, Secretariat Chowk, Convention Center, Radio Pakistan Chowk and Serena Hotel.
The Islamabad High Court had also ordered the city managers to remove the containers to mitigate the difficulties of the road-users.