LAHORE: Commuters were left stranded on the roads leading to the Mall Road on Wednesday as Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi staged a protest on the Faisal Chowk against US President Donald Trump’s decision to relocate the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
All roads leading to Faisal Chowk were blocked for traffic, causing a massive gridlock on Canal Road, Jail Road and Ferozepur Road.
Talking to Pakistan Today, a commuter Salman said, “It is not only Mall road and the roads leading up to Faisal Chowk that are blocked, I was stuck near Ganga Ram Hospital because all the traffic was being redirected, clogging the entire area’s roads.”
Faisal, another commuter, said that protests on Mall Road had become a nuisance for the residents of Lahore as it resulted in traffic jams on all major roads in the vicinity.
“I fail to understand why the district administration allows protesters to occupy the Mall Road despite a Lahore High Court ruling barring all such protests in the area,” he said.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had imposed a permanent ban on protests at Mall Road in 2011, and directed the Inspector General of Police, the chief secretary, home secretary and district coordination officer to ensure implementation of the court’s order.
The directions were given on a petition filed by the traders of Mall Road who stated that their businesses suffered due to frequent road blockades caused by protesters.
Meanwhile, addressing his supporters, TLYR chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi lashed out at the US for recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
He also came down hard on Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui for criticising the TLYR protest sit-in in Islamabad last month and ordering the police operation against his supporters.
“The IHC judge is working on the agenda of infidels,” he said.