Flouting the ban on all sorts of rallies on the Mall, religious parties staged protests throughout Saturday against the death sentence awarded to former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri, which caused massive traffic jams throughout the city’s main roads and arteries irking commuters.
Although traffic jams are a permanent feature of the city but the governor’s killers’ issue turned it worse. Commuters were left high and dry cursing both protesters and the traffic police for unleashing the hell of long hour gridlocks. As soon as the verdict was announced, a major portion of the city witnessed bumper to bumper traffic. Entrance at the Mall from Regal Chowk to the Governor’s House was closed by the traffic police. All vehicles, including ambulances, were left stranded in the traffic while many of them even ran out of fuel because of the long blockade. The only sound audible on roads was of horns while many commuters had to park their vehicles miles away from their destinations owing to the blocked roads.
Advocate Azhar Sheikh slammed the protesters saying that they did not have any respect for the rule of law, as they were protesting against a court decision while defying the ban on rallies at the Mall, which was also a Lahore High Court verdict. Many cars broke down, which made the situation even worse. Salim Khan, driving an ambulance and stuck at Jail Road said that he was due to report at a private hospital to pick-up a patient but he could not arrive despite passing an hour due to heavy rush on the roads.
Citizen Shahzad Ahmed had to park his vehicle at Bhaatti area and walked back to reach his office at Queens Road. “Lahore has everything but not roads, which are wide enough for traffic and sewerage system to sustain in monsoons”, he angrily said. Traffic at Anarkali and adjacent localities, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road, Canal Bank Road, Lower Mall, Garhi Shahu, China Chowk, Circular Road, Badami Bagh, Safanwala Chowk, Azadi Chowk, Queens Road, GPO Chowk, McLeod Road, Nappier Chowk and Davis Road, Qartaba Chowk, Lakshmi Chowk, Wahdat Road, Pekhay Wala Chowk was observed running at snail’s pace.
The slow pace of traffic was witnessed on small roads as well with Multan Road, Yateem Khan Chowk and Thokar Niaz Baig also facing traffic mess. Shops and banks on the Mall were closed immediately after the protesters took over the roads fearing looting. Traffic in Lahore, which was already running congested due to the ongoing construction of many roads, came to a grinding halt causing people to remain stuck in the traffic mess for hours. Roads, including Canal Road, Multan Road, Allama Iqbal Road and Ravi Road are dug up at different places for construction and widening purposes.
