JUI-F blocks GT Road in Lahore

LAHORE: Dozens of JUI-F workers gathered and blocked the GT road near Imamia Colony railway crossing on Monday for nearly five hours in connection with the “Plan-B” of its agitation movement against the government, following the lifting of the Islamabad sit-in few days back.

The charged workers holding banners, flags and raising slogans against the PTI leadership, remained sitting on the main track of GT Road peacefully without creating any turbulence, as they allowed the traffic to pass on through the service roads or side lanes, especially the goods transport carrying essential commodities, ambulances and vehicles carrying women and children.

According to JUI-F local leadership, the “Plan-B” against the PTI government had not originally include blocking of the main roads leading into Punjab Capital but on Sunday they were instructed by the central leadership to begin blocking the major arteries going into Lahore.

The workers reached the spot after Zohr prayers, spread mats on the road and set up barricades, as the police began diverted the traffic to the service roads or alternative routes. Yet the creation of a bottleneck resulted in the disruption of traffic moving between Lahore and Gujranwala towards Rawalpindi, causing long queues of traffic on the GT Road near Muridke, Kamonke and Shahdara.

The workers staging the sit-in returned to their homes after Maghrib prayers, resuming the normal traffic. The sit-in will be continued until the next announcement by the party leadership as the workers will resume the protest today (Tuesday) afternoon, the sources said.