The policemen, paramilitary soldiers as well as sleuths of secret agencies who have been guarding the sit-ins of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and cleric Tahirul Qadri-led Pakistan Awami Tehreek are now tired due to long hours of duty and inadequate arrangements for them.
"We are only given a steady diet of rice, nothing else. There is no tea in the evening or lassi for breakfast. But worst of all is the boredom; there is nothing to do here. At least I have a chair, my boys have to lie on the grass all day," a police inspector from Faisalabad was quoted as saying by the Dawn.
Most of the policemen, Frontier Constabulary and Rangers personnel feel that their deployment had been a waste of time.
"I am a commando, I am trained to deal with dangerous situations. We were told to defend the capital, but what is this? Our superiors keep on telling us that we have to be ready for action all the time but nothing is happening," an officer from Islamabad complained.
A large number of police personnel protecting the Red Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and other important buildings including the Prime Minister's house, were called in from the Gujaranwala, Faisalabad and Mianwali regions.
The anti-government protests demanding ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have virtually shut down Pakistan's capital, raising fears of unrest in the country with a history of military coups.
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