RAWALPINDI: The garrison city witnessed a massive traffic jam on Saturday evening due to the departure of military’s former strongman, retired General Pervez Musharraf, to Karachi.

Traffic was mainly diverted to Airport Road for the construction work of the Metro Bus Project on Murree Road.

However, motorists were forced to wait at slip roads along Airport Road for the departure of the former general as the road was closed for more than two hours.

“Where should we go? Traffic is blocked on Murree Road due to work on the Metro Bus Project. Airport Road was closed to give safe passage to General Pervez Musharraf,” said Kamran Butt, a commuter on Rawal Road.

Sharjeel Ahmed, a commuter on Airport Road, said he was going to Shakrial but the law enforcement agencies had stopped traffic. “We had to wait for one hour for the former president, and then they took another hour to clear the traffic jam,” he said.

“VIP movement create problems for the residents of the garrison city. It has become a routine that traffic is stopped for the generals, ministers and other VIPs,” he said.

Mohammad Nasir, a commuter, said the wardens had failed to manage the traffic load in the city, despite being good in numbers. He alleged that many traffic wardens disappeared from the assigned points, plunging traffic into chaos.

A traffic warden told Dawn that the VIP routes disturbed the smooth flow of traffic in the city.

He also blamed the roadside encroachments, lack of parking lots and faulty traffic lights for the chaotic traffic on the main roads.

For the traffic mess on Saturday, the traffic police officials said that the former general was going to Karachi, due to which the VVIP route had blocked the traffic.