For nearly a week, the federal capital has been waiting for peace talks between the United States and Iran to take place there and large parts of the city remain sealed off by authorities.
Key roads leading into Islamabad are shut down, and a strict security cordon envelops the administrative centre, the so-called “Red Zone”. In the adjacent “Blue Area”, cafes have run out of fruit, markets are deserted and with no service at bus terminals, weekend commuters are struggling to get home.
Government officials say the measures are not ending any time soon and that they are ever ready for delegates, including US President Donald Trump, to show up at a moment’s notice. “We have been told that the talks could be held any day,” one official said.
The current lockdown is the second in two weeks. Islamabad was first sealed off for talks between the US and Iranian delegations on April 11 that ended without a deal. The city briefly reopened, then locked down again as Pakistan waits to host a second round that has yet to materialise.
For residents, uncertainty has become the hardest part. Islamabad is a city of transients, where many residents work during the week and return to family homes at the weekend. Now, that pattern has been interrupted.
Rizwana Raees, 35, arrived at the intercity bus terminal with a weekend bag, hoping to reach her hometown of Abbottabad for the first time in two weeks. The terminal was empty, no buses, no departures.
“Sometimes the government and media say that the delegations are coming, sometimes they say they aren’t,” she said after she called her family for help. “Nobody knows and at this point, even if they come, no one will believe it till they see pictures and videos of them actually here.”
