Exhausted, sick demonstrators impatiently waiting to return home
The participants of `Inqilab and Azadi March’ of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have become exhausted and sick due to prolonged stay in the federal capital and are impatiently waiting to return to their homes.
Due to extended stay, most of the participants were being called back by their respective families, but they were not allowed to leave by the organizers, said Abdul Qayyum who said he was being paid for participating in the march.
A large number of marchers said that even after weeks, they had no idea when Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan would call off their sit-ins and they would repatriate to their families.
Now Eidul Azha was approaching fast and they intend to celebrate it with their families, but they were still uncertain when the sit-ins would be called off.
Similarly, most of the participants of ‘Inqilab March,’ who were reportedly hired by the PAT for a few days, were also fed up with the situation and wanted to go back, but they were not being allowed to do so, said Malik Rafiq, a teacher.
Yasir Naeem, a student of 10th class who belonged to Kot Addu in Muzaffargarh district, said his family was paid Rs 6,000 by the local PAT leadership for his participation in the `Inqilab March’. The family was told that the boy would be back in three days.
Yasir said around 300 youngsters from Kot Addu and nearby villages were brought to Islamabad on the same terms.
Another young participant of the sit-in said that groups of 20 boys each, were formed and their in-charges were tasked to ensure their attendance on daily basis. Even the injured boys were also not allowed to go back to their homes, he added.
Mubashir, who brought a sound system for the sit-in from Dera Ghazi Khan, said he had been missing his family for the last four weeks.
An elderly woman, Sughra, said when the female protestors asked the organizers about their return, they made lame excuses for the extended stay.
Hammad Ali, a senior employee in Planning Wing at Pak Secretariat, said PAT chief Tahirul Qadri was tarnishing the country’s image abroad through his `container inqilab’. He said both Imran and Qadri had put their supporters in difficulty, by not fulfilling their promises that the protests would remain peaceful.
A PAT worker on condition of anonymity informed that due to viral diseases and sleepless nights, the eyes of various participants were affected in Red Zone area.
Abdullah Khan who came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said, he was fed up as he did not join the march just to attend night dancing parties and now intended to leave for home.
Most of the marchers brought from far-flung areas were dumped on green belts along D-Chowk where they found no shelter during rains.
Rahimullah Marwat, 26, along with his six other colleagues from Lakki Marwat disappointed by poor cleanliness conditions at sit-in sites were now seeking help to find a bus station, so that they could return to their native towns.
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