A Local Strike

On Sunday, July 17^th, after Isha prayer at almost 9:30 p.m., a council of about 15 to 20
men decided to take action against cantonment, the authority in charge of taking care of local matters, because of the recent destruction of houses and streets due to flood-like, heavy rains. Cantonment has not done anything for the people yet. A meeting was held at a committee member’s house to come up with a resolution to the problem but broke up at 10 o’clock without success. The following day, all the committee members decided to strike.

The angry protesters blocked the road and jammed traffic, letting no one go in either direction. They waited until the police arrived. The protesters said they would not move from the road until the head of cantonment department negotiated with them to resolve the destruction problems. The protesters said their words were written in stone and demanded for a peaceful resolution.

After hours of blocked traffic, a settlement was reached. The committee asked the department to survey all the houses, examine the destruction, and calculate the losses due to floods by heavy rains. The committee also gave them two days time to solve this problem, asking them to expand the drains on the road as the first step. The protesters warned that if action were not taken, there would surely be continuous strikes. Today was the last day of warning. Let’s see what happens next!

By Mahnoor