Strike and protests over CNG price hike; Twin cities remain paralyzed

Strike and protests over CNG price hike; Twin cities remain paralyzed

Islamabad: (Tuesday, January 03, 2012) irked by increase in CNG prices, protestors in Rawalpindi and Islamabad left twin cities paralyzed life for second consecutive day. As the call for strike by all Pakistan CNG association and
transporters association entered second day, amid unavailability of public transport, commuters, employees and public transporters staged huge rallies against government.

Clashes between police and protesters also took place at many spots. Station House Officer (SHO) Shahzad Town and a cop wounded critically during the clashes. Both have been shifted to PIMS with broken bones.

The enraged mob burnt a private vehicle and a police van at Faizabad and also burnt tyres at Islamabad Expressway and Faizabad interchange. Main protests were against putting ban of CNG for public service vehicles, but later due to non-availability of public
transport vehicles commuters, stranded at bus-stops, also joined the protests.

SHO (Shahzad Town) Maher Munnawar was attacked by the angry mob when he tried to stop some people from setting a vehicle on fire. The SHO sustained injuries on his head and bone of his right leg was broken. While, the protesters also thrashed a police driver,
Constable Fasih Ullah, who was coming back after dropping the police officials near Faizabad on a police Suzuki van (GV-104) as a result of which he received critical injuries and was admitted to PIMS. The protesters also burnt the vehicle under Faizabad Interchange.

The protesters blocked different main roads including IJ Principal Road, GT Road, Bhara Kahu, Sohan, Faizabad and Khanna Pull creating problems for the public who faced lots of difficulties to reach their destinations. Traffic remained suspended on almost all
main roads throughout the day. However, the traffic police diverted the traffic to different adjacent roads. Policemen remained present at these points to thwart any untoward incident and tried to stop protesters from damaging public property but the protesters
kept on pelting stones on police and private property.

The Islamabad Expressway was presenting a look of battlefield. Over three kilometres area from Faizabad and Zia Masjid was the most violent area of the federal capital and battle between the agitating people and law enforcing agencies continued for over eight
hours. Angry protesters were attacking police while the police continuously retaliated to keep them in streets and disperse them. But the strength of protesters increased with the use of force by the law enforcing agencies when hundreds of people residing
nearby areas also joined them. Hide and seek between the police and protesters continued until late night. Traffic between Rawat and Islamabad remained suspended for over 10 hours during the protests.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=8109

Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Jan 3 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry