The repeated road closures, overflowing containers and suspension of metro bus services in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have made the lives of ordinary citizens, daily wage earners and students a living hell.
Be it political protests, visits by foreign delegations or administrative problems—the common voter and office worker always suffers. Islamabad, once known as the most peaceful city in the country, is now becoming a “city of containers and closures”. In the past few months and recent days, the continuous road closures and repeated suspension of Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus services have made millions of citizens of the twin cities mentally and financially ill. For the common man, leaving home has now become a nightmare, where he does not know which route he will take in the evening and at what cost.
More than one lakh people travel between Rawalpindi and Islamabad daily by metro bus. Most of them are employees of government and private institutions, university students and patients visiting hospitals.
When the metro, which offers a modest fare, is closed, citizens have to resort to taxis, bikes or drive-ins, the fare of which reaches hundreds or even thousands of rupees per trip. How can an ordinary office worker with a limited salary afford such a high daily fare in this inflation?
In recent days, due to protests by metro security personnel and political sit-ins in the past, this service remained closed for weeks, the entire suffering of which was borne by the poor class.
In the name of political sit-ins and security high alert, it has now become a norm to erect containers on the entry and exit routes of Islamabad such as Faizabad, Srinagar Highway, GT Road and Expressway. The journey from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, which should be completed in 20 minutes, turns into 3 to 4 hours due to the closure of routes and severe traffic jams on alternative routes.
The most tragic situation occurs when ambulances carrying critically ill patients get stuck in traffic jams around Faizabad or the Red Zone. Due to this road closure, many precious lives have been lost before reaching the hospital.
The closure of roads and transport is having a direct impact on the city’s economy. The laborers, cart drivers and daily wage earners who come to Islamabad to earn a living are forced to stay at home due to the road closure, which is causing their stoves to go cold. On the other hand, traders in the Blue Area, Saddar and other major markets say that the number of customers is negligible due to the road closure, which is causing a loss of billions of rupees. Moreover, the prices of vegetables, fruits and other food items in the city are also skyrocketing due to the road closures and supply lines being affected.
Students of educational institutions are also severely affected by this situation. Due to repeated road closures, either exams are postponed or classes have to be moved online, which severely affects the continuity of education. In addition, mental stress, irritability and blood pressure diseases are increasing rapidly among citizens who spend hours in traffic every day.
Kaleem Khan a businessman told Pakhtun Digital that he came Islamabad to enjoy peaceful and comfortable life but the opportunist rulers have badly tarnished the image of Islamabad. They are closing bus stops and vital public installations to mentally torture the public. He said that if this trend was continued then the people of Islamabad will leave the country.
The citizens of Islamabad now have only one demand: the right to protest has its place, but why should ordinary citizens have to bear the consequences? The state and the administration should adopt modern security methods to keep traffic flowing instead of completely closing the roads.
The metro bus service should be kept away from political and administrative disputes so that the poor are not affected, and political parties should be given a specific place outside the city instead of occupying the city center or highways.
If this trend continues like this, Islamabad’s economy and the peace of the common man will be completely destroyed. Both the government and the opposition will now have to realize the suffering of the common citizen.
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