No US-Iran peace talks in sight, but Islamabad maintains security lockdown

For nearly a week, the federal capital has been waiting for peace talks between the US and Iran to take place there, and while there are no signs that the two sides will meet, large parts of the city remain cordoned off by authorities.

Key roads leading into Islamabad are closed and a tight security cordon surrounds the administrative center, the so-called “Red Zone”. In the adjacent “Blue Area”, the cafes have run out of fruit, the markets are deserted and with no service at the bus terminals, weekend commuters struggle to get home.

Government officials say the measures are not ending soon and are ever ready for delegates, including US President Donald Trump, to appear at a moment’s notice. “We have been told that the talks could be held any day,” an official said.

The current lockdown is the second in two weeks. Islamabad was only closed to talks between US and Iranian delegations on April 11, which ended without an agreement. The city was briefly reopened, then locked down again as Pakistan waits to host a second round, which has yet to materialise.

For the residents, uncertainty has become the most difficult. Islamabad is a city of transients, with many residents working during the week and returning to family homes at the weekend. Now that pattern has been interrupted.

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Rizwana Raees, 35, arrived at the intercity bus terminal on Thursday with a weekend bag, hoping to reach her hometown Abbottabad for the first time in two weeks. The terminal was empty, no buses, no departures.

“Sometimes the government and the media say the delegations are coming, sometimes they say they are not,” she said after calling her family for help. “No one knows, and at this point, even if they come, no one will believe it until they see pictures and videos of them here.”

In the end, her brother managed to hire a shared ride through an online group to get her home.

Abdur Rehman ‌Irshad, a manager ⁠ at the bus station, said the terminal had been closed for five to six days, cutting off more than 1,000 passengers every day. “People come here because it’s a popular station,” he said. “But they are sent back.”

No strawberries and no news

In the lobby of an exclusive hotel in Islamabad, journalists who have come to the city from all over the world to report on the talks have found themselves in their own limbo. Camera crews remain balanced. The equipment is ready. Phones are checked and checked again.

But after a week of waiting, there is not much to report.

“I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to request laundry,” said Fadi Mansour, Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent who had flown in from Washington for what he thought would be a short trip. “We really don’t know where we’re going.”

The disruption has also affected the city’s food supply. Saif-ur-Rehman Abbasi, 36, a fruit and vegetable seller, said trucks carrying produce had been held up for days outside the city’s sealed perimeter.

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“You can’t have fruit and vegetables stuck in transport vehicles outside the city – they’re sensitive, they’re perishable,” he said. “We have rent to pay and a business to run.”

At a popular cafe in the blue area, staff said they had run out of strawberries and were also short of other ingredients.

The surrounding market was eerily quiet and residents chose to avoid long detours around the closed red zone to get to the commercial area.

“When Islamabad opens up, Hormuz closes,” said a waiter at the cafe, referring to the Strait of Hormuz, an issue in the talks. “When Hormuz opens, Islamabad closes.”

As of Friday, both remained deadlocked, with no end in sight for either.