Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad administration on Sunday cleared all roads, entry and exit points except Faizabad intersection, for normal traffic after the government-Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) negotiations hit a breakthrough.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Islamabad Mohammad Hamza Shafqaat in a tweet on Sunday announced that all roads were open for traffic in Islamabad.
“However there is some congestion on Kaak Pul and Faizabad which will be cleared in some time,” said the DC in his tweet.
The section of road was closed by heavy containers and it would take some time to remove them, an official of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) authority said.
A senior official of the Interior Ministry while talking to Pakistan Observer confirmed on Sunday that talks with the TLP were successful, however, he said the local arrested leaders and workers of the banned outfit would not be released nor the reinforcement force called in from other provinces would be sent back.
We shall wait for the outcome of the dialogue as they (TLP workers) were still on the roads and had not returned, he ssid. There is a possibility that they could resume march on Islamabad that might create law & order issue.
A day earlier, Ministry of Interior had sought police personnel and anti-riot gear from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
In a written request to the chief secretaries of Azad Kashmir, KP and Punjab, the ministry had sought 10,000 personnel each along with the command structure and anti-riot equipment.
From KP, 2,500 personnel had been approved for sending to Islamabad along with anti-riot equipment. The province has 104,000 police officers and officials.
On the other hand, an officer of the capital police said 2,000 personnel were coming from Punjab, 2,500 from KP, 300 from AJK and 1,000 from the Frontier Constabulary (FC).
So far, 2,500 personnel reached the capital and the contingent of FC was expected to arrive later in the night.