New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS): The Pakistan government has lined up thousands of shipping containers and trucks across Islamabad for nearly four weeks to block an upcoming march on the capital by Pakistan Tehreek‑e‑Insaf (PTI), a new report has said.
The report from Al Jazeera cited transporters and businessmen as saying that the move has disrupted traffic, commerce and livelihoods.
The containers were deployed ahead of a PTI march originally scheduled to start on September 27 from Peshawar and later postponed to October 4, organisers said.
“The march is PTI’s latest attempt to pressure the government into releasing Khan, the country’s most popular political figure, according to polls, who has been behind bars for more than three years,” the report said.
“It’s like clockwork every year,” a resident said, describing the recurring appearance of containers, adding “these containers have now made Islamabad as Containerabad.”
When the PTI petitioned the Islamabad High Court in August 2024, over a cancelled rally permit at D-Chowk, then-Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked that the authorities had turned the capital into a “container city”.
Talal Chaudhry, the state minister for interior, called the use of containers a standard practice rather than overreach.
“Security preparations are based on intelligence assessments and anticipated security requirements, not simply on the date a political event is formally announced,” the report cited Chaudhry.
Islamabad police initially needed $2.9 million for a week of security arrangements around PTI’s planned march, according to local media reports but now the bill could cross $3.6 million after the march was delayed by a week.
Chaudhry said container rentals were documented and paid through proper processes.
Transporters and owners of welded container trucks alleged that many vehicles were seized without clear authority and that they have not been compensated.
Muhammad Owais Chaudhry, a lawyer who heads the All Pakistan Goods Transport Owners Association, said the total earnings lost per truck-container combination while idle amounts to 30,000 to 40,000 Pakistani rupees per day.
On the compensation, he said, “Not a single rupee has been given…No procedure has ever been worked out for how it would be paid. In our history, no transporter has ever received money for any past protests.”
“When we close a hotel and cancel all bookings, it is not the room rent that the hotel loses,” a business owner said, noting the discouraging signals it sends to investors, businesses, and tourists.
