Following the arrest of Saad Rizvi, chief of the far-right political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik, on the 12th of April in Lahore, a series of protests erupted across the major cities of Pakistan, including Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore. The protests were initiated as anti-France demonstrations but gained magnitude after the detainment of their leader.
As a result of these intensified demonstrations, at least 3 TLP supporters lost their lives and almost 100 have been arrested, while almost 40 police officers have suffered injuries in the process. The protests led to elevated traffic disruptions throughout the country, hindering the mobility of the citizens of Pakistan.1
In Islamabad, all types of traffic were denied access to the Murree Road, while the Bara Kahu was obstructed with trucks. On the other hand, multiple areas in Lahore, including Lahore Ring Road, Droghawala Chowk, Bhatta Chowk, Ferozpur Road, and many others, were all closed due to protests. Areas in Karachi, like Orangi No. 5, Baldia Hub River Road, and Korangi No. 2, were also subjected to sit-in’s which hampered the overall flow of traffic in the city.
These barricaded main routes made it impossible for commuters to reach their destinations, as huge numbers of people got stuck in traffic jams, while many people found it impossible to leave workspaces to reach their residence. At the same time, many students faced difficulty in traveling back to their homes from their educational institutions. Students at Habib University also encountered similar inconveniences as they were stuck at the campus till after midnight.
We reached out to Habib students and some employees in Karachi to find out the kinds of inconveniences they had to face amidst these protests.
1) Where did you stay stuck amidst the protests and how did your experience go?
I had just landed from Islamabad from Karachi and was stuck at the airport for about four hours. The experience was literally nothing, I was shocked. But at the same time what can one expect from a country like ours.
-Saba Hameed
I was on my way back from work on Shahrah-e-Faisal. The experience was claustrophobic. The traffic was literally still. We moved a centimeter every 30-45 minutes. It was truly frustrating.
- Raza Bhojani
2) How long did it take you to reach home?
It took me an hour to get home so I left at 9 and reached at 10, well not at home but near my area at 10, which was way longer than I usually take. It usually takes me around 20-25 minutes to get home, but that day it took me an hour due to the traffic
-Ifrah Yousuf CND 2022
From the airport to my house in Defence, it took me roughly 6 hours
-Saba Hameed
3) Were you alone during the ride and whose transport service were you using? How did you feel during the travel?
I was traveling with my wife, felt anxiety, hell lot of tension stress, bikers were very close to the car, people were wild, and driving without any direction, hell got loose
-Affan Khan
I was alone in Careem and was very scared as well with what was going on, I was more scared about how long it was taking. The driver was nice and very young, he hadn’t traveled to the area we were going to so we both were using Google maps to figure out a way which had less traffic. Since I was scared, I also shared my Careem details with my friends to track me until I reached home, and they did and sent a message to confirm once I reached.
-Ifrah Yousuf CND 2022
4) How did you feel when you reached home and what were your family's reactions?
When I got home my mom was really angry with me, because of how late it got and how she asked me to not stay that long and how I did not listen to her and lectured me about it, but I had to do what I had to and it was a choice I made for myself to work on my finals.
-Ifrah Yousuf CND 2022
My family was relieved but more than them, I was. When I finally got to use the bathroom...
- -Raza Bhojani
These protests had literally shaken the whole country, from hampering student’s progress in final exams to instigating anxieties of worrisome parents who were longing for their children’s safe arrival. Meanwhile, the government has resorted to inefficacious measures against the TLP like temporarily blocking the use of social media2 while ignoring the dire need for dialogue for a country that has been war-torn for decades.
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