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+ "Road to Nowhere" 7 September, Islamabad to Faisalabad to Faisalabad
There is nothing like a six-lane highway to take the charm out of traveling. About eight years ago, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif contracted with a South Korean road building outfit to construct the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway. Secondary contracts were awarded to his cronies. One got the center divider contract, another painted the lines, another erected the fences alongside, and someone else erected all the signs. It is complete with rest areas, emergency phones, and interchanges. There are huge signs every so often: "The Islamabad-Lahore Motorway -- We Believe in Excellence." But it is empty. No one uses it. A truck or car might pass going the other direction every minute or two. I ask our driver why it is so empty. He gives me three reasons. One, it is a toll road: it costs about five dollars, so no one can afford it. Two, traffic laws are enforced, so those trucks or buses with passengers riding on the roof or hanging off the back are not allowed, and there are no auto rickshaws, or horse, donkey or camel-driven tongas. Reason three is perhaps the most compelling: the road doesn't go anywhere. That is, it doesn't pass near any towns along the way.
We get off before it ends because we are going to Faisalabad. This is where Osama bin Laden's chief recruiter and director of operations, Abu Zubaydah, was arrested in a predawn raid on March 28. When we hit the local roads, there are goats and water buffalo, families squatting near the narrow road tarmac with children running everywhere. I am back in Pakistan. I like it better than that road to nowhere.
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home - introduction - mapping the journey photograph ©afp/corbis
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