ISLAMABAD: Late by an entire day, PTI’s Azadi march finally entered Islam­abad as the clock was ticking on India’s Independence Day, Pakistan’s Azadi anniversary having already passed.

It was after eleven that the tired workers who had been waiting patiently on Kashmir Highway were told that Imran Khan had entered Islamabad and was on his way to ground zero.

The floodlights were lit up, the volume of the party’s songs was pumped up and the workers found the energy to dance.

The numbers were continuing to swell slowly.

However, earlier in the evening, the cordoned off area of Kashmir Highway (from Aabpara to Serena Hotel) bore a forlorn look. Most of the party workers were those who had arrived in the capital on Thursday evening and had waited patiently in the humid weather that lasted till Friday evening.

•Imran and Qadri enter Islamabad hours after midnight, late by more than a day

•PAT activists move roadblocks and head towards city centre •Delay sours supporters’ mood

Hamid Gul, a 22-year-old student from Peshawar, told Dawn that he and his friends “were here on the call of our party leader”.

“We will follow his orders.”

Some of the PTI workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told journalists that they were not provided food and had spent the night under the open skies.

They were also not very clear on when Mr Khan would arrive and the proceedings would begin.

Jahanzeb, a party worker from Attock, for instance, had no idea where the stage (from where the party leadership would address the rally) would be set. “Which way shall we go,” he asked his friends, who seemed equally confused.

In fact, there were reports that some of the tired workers had turned back, disappointed that their beloved leader had not turned up.

A senior party organiser confirmed this to Dawn: “Because of the uncertainty surrounding the arrival time of the long march from Lahore some party workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went back. Such reports as well as security concerns compelled Mr Khan to abandon his container and use another vehicle to get here quickly.”

It seemed to be a sensible decision as the PTI chief eventually reached Islam­abad more or less at the same time as Tahirul Qadri who was ahead of Mr Khan for most of the day.

In the meantime, the change in weather brought relief to the entire city and particularly to the waiting protesters.

By the time night fell, a number of the waiting workers were sleeping on the green belt or sitting quietly, exhaustion writ on their faces. Others were splashing themselves in the water supplied by tankers.

Away from the rally site, most conversations, including those on the various news channels, focused less on when the rally would enter the city and more on how it would end.

In other words, the focus was on what the PTI would accept in exchange for calling the march off.

It was hard to find anyone who thought that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would hand in his resignation as demanded by Mr Khan.

This was a realisation that had dawned on PTI officials as well, their leader’s maximalist position notwithstanding.

“We do believe that at the end of the day there will be some give and take. However, after repeatedly announcing that we will not accept anything less than resignation of the prime minister, the party leadership will surely need something significant,” said one. However, he would not explain further.

Nonetheless, officials from within the PTI and the PML-N conceded that back-channel communication continued.

Those trying to mediate had also not lost hope.

“A middle ground has to be found as the prime minister can’t go home and neither can the PTI continue with the dharna indefinitely,” remarked a Jamaat-i-Islami office-bearer.

But on Friday night, these questions remained unanswered.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014