PESHAWAR: A group of youngsters wearing bands of red and green, the two colours of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf flag, around their heads rushed towards a container-mounted truck at the toll plaza on Ring Road near Hayatabad and asked the driver to show customs clearance documents.

The driver pulled over his 22-wheeler-truck, while his seemingly terrified cleaner gave the documents containing details of the cargo to the youngsters, sporting Bendable Party Moustache and sunglasses.

“Tell me the truth what is in the container,” a man dressed in matching shalwar kameez and coat asked the cleaner.

Another young Insafian was busy shooting images of the document with cellphone camera.

“I swear on the Holy Quran that this is not for Nato. It can be cloth or anything else, but we don’t know about it and you can check the documents,” said the cleaner of the loaded vehicle heading from Karachi to Afghanistan via the Peshawar-Torkham Highway.

After checking the documents, the container was allowed to pass through the toll plaza adjacent to Hayatabad Township. More than 12 sealed containers were stopped at the toll plaza within an hour for verification of Nato supplies, but all trucks were cleared.

Tabdeli Razakars practically having no knowledge about cargo invoices of customs documents find it difficult to differentiate between containers loaded with Nato supplies and Afghan cargo.

Mohammad Aman, who was checking the cargo documents, said the containers loaded with Nato supplies carried special stamp on the invoices ‘Nato/ISAF’.

“We haven’t found a single container with Nato supplies so far,” he replied when asked how many containers had been stopped during the last three days.

The busy Ring Road passing through Peshawar which also serves major supply route for bilateral trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics has become ‘Strait of Hurmaz’ since PTI Chairman Imran Khan ordered his ‘Tabdeli Razakars’ to prevent all types of Nato supplies via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PTI ‘Tabdeli Razakars’ and Jamaat-i-Islami activists have set up a joint camp at the toll plaza to check the movement of Afghanistan-bound containers coming in from Karachi.

The camp has been decorated with blue-green and red-green flags of JI and PTI. Both are coalition partners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The sit-in is wearing the look of a funfair camp. Recorded verses of the Holy Quran are played through digital sound system installed at the camp, while at times, national songs are aired at high volume to keep ‘Tabdeli Razakars’ charged.

Around eight DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) vans of different news channels have been parked at the camp for the live coverage of the protest. Young activists of PTI and JI are enthusiastic to take photographs with ‘famous’ anchorpersons, who come all the way from Islamabad to give expert opinions on the protest.

Police officials and personnel of Frontier Constabulary deputed at the protest camp helplessly watch the youngsters checking documents of the loaded vehicles. Tired drivers are at the mercy of political workers.

The ‘Tabdeli Razakars’ of PTI and the ‘Hami’ and ‘Rafiq’ of JI sitting at the camp have assumed the role of police, paramilitary force, officials of the Customs and Federal Investigation Agency. Atmosphere at the protest camp portrays picture of a ‘state within a state.’ Such protest camps are at five different places along the main highways across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The agitation is not only disturbing economic activities in Peshawar and Karachi but also affects trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“This is a conspiracy against Pakhtuns. Why Imran does not close terminal for Nato supplies in his hometown Mianwali? He (Imran) is trying to divert business related with Afghan trade to Punjab province,” remarked Amir Gul, who was watching activities at the toll plaza.

He said the two main associations of truckers, including All Fata Trailers Association, were likely to go on strike from Wednesday.

Mohammad Zaman, contractor of the toll plaza, said the protest had affected flow of traffic via Ring Road and his business was going into losses since PTI announced the blockade of Nato supplies. “Daily revenue from the toll plaza is around Rs300,000, which has now decreased considerably,” he said.

Another person said each worker attached with Afghan trade earned Rs3000 to Rs4000 daily. He said workers had lost employment in Peshawar due to the agitation because the business had been shifted to Balochistan.

Objective of the ongoing protest is to stop the US drone strikes in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and force both the federal government and the Taliban to start talks to restore peace in the region.

Another objective of the blockade of Nato supplies is to pacify the Taliban to stop bombing and suicide attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

JI leader and former provincial minister Kashif Azam, who was sitting at the camp, is not sure about achieving these objectives, especially end to drone strikes.

“Our aim is to put pressure on all parties to the conflict to start dialogue forthwith,” he said, adding that the provincial government’s stance had reconciled the Taliban to some extent who had announced that civilians would not be targeted anymore.

Now, the question arises if the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have given mandate to PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the elections to encourage his young lot to take law in hand and promote mob mentality in society or obey the law.