20,000 Workers Jobless as 45 Terminals Shut for 12 Days Due to Islamabad Peace Talks

A human cost that few observers anticipated has emerged from the diplomatic drama unfolding in Islamabad — the prolonged and chaotic on-and-off closure of approximately 45 transport terminals across the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, triggered by more than twelve consecutive days of security lockdowns tied to the stalled US-Iran peace negotiations, has left an estimated 20,000 drivers, conductors, helpers, bus hostesses, and allied workers without income, forcing thousands back to their hometowns empty-handed and destabilising an entire economic ecosystem that millions of citizens depend upon for daily survival.

The scale of disruption stretches far beyond the transport sector itself. According to the Transport Federation of Pakistan, around five thousand small and large public transport vehicles — including intercity buses, Toyota Hiace coaches, vans, and luxury coaches — would normally depart from these terminals each day, with a matching number arriving. With the terminals sealed for security reasons tied to the anticipated second round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad, an industry that typically moves between ten and eleven thousand vehicles daily through these hubs has come to a near-complete standstill. The ripple effect has silenced entire ecosystems of dependent businesses: roadside eateries, tea stalls, cigarette kiosks, vehicle repair workshops, spare parts shops, and goods transport companies operating within and around terminal premises have all shuttered their doors, adding layer after layer to the economic damage.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking dimension of the crisis involves the plight of the twin cities' bus hostesses — the largely female workforce that serves as attendants on long-route luxury coaches. According to data compiled by local transport associations, a total of 2,632 bus hostesses have been left entirely unemployed. The majority depend on commission-based earnings, with base salaries too minimal to sustain daily life without active work. Transport companies, unable to absorb the losses of an indefinite closure, dispatched hostesses on unpaid leave and vacated the company-provided hostel accommodations that many relied upon for housing in the twin cities. Those who had been residing in shared hostels near Pirwadhai — many of them young women from rural districts like Chakwal, Attock, and Khushab — were left without shelter and without pay, forced to return to their hometowns with no confirmed date for resumption of work.

Samina Shoaib, a bus hostess with a private transport company and a native of Chakwal, described the shock of losing her accommodation and income within the span of a few days. She said transport companies had sent out blanket notices asking all hostesses to return home and await a recall once operations resumed. Weeks into the shutdown with no clarity on when terminals would be allowed to function normally again, many of her colleagues have already departed the city and may not return at all, either finding other employment or simply unable to afford the journey back. For workers living on slim margins, even a few weeks of lost income can be catastrophic and difficult to recover from.

Patron of the Transport Federation, Haji Zahoor Arian, described the twelve-day closure as a disaster for the transport economy of the twin cities. He said terminal owners had made informal arrangements to provide basic rations to their employees on a self-help basis, but acknowledged this was unsustainable beyond a very short period. The federation has appealed to authorities to at minimum designate temporary roadside operating areas — at locations such as Chungi No. 22 or Rawat on the outskirts of the capital's security perimeter — to allow intercity transport to continue without penetrating the sensitive Red Zone. The proposal reflects the frustration of an industry caught between the legitimate security imperatives of the state and the economic survival needs of hundreds of thousands of people.

The pattern of closures has itself been erratic and deeply damaging to business confidence. Throughout the past two weeks, district administrations in both Islamabad and Rawalpindi repeatedly issued shutdown orders in the evening or late at night, only to withdraw them hours later, sending confusing signals to transporters who had already grounded their fleets, cleared their terminals, or dispersed their workforces. Traders across Rawalpindi's commercial districts described the cycle as psychologically exhausting and financially crippling — markets would shut in anticipation of a security lockdown, then reopen hours later, only for the process to repeat the following night. The stop-start dynamics left no stable window for normal business activity and made planning impossible.

The closure orders were tied directly to security preparations for the second round of US-Iran peace talks, for which Pakistan mobilised an extraordinary apparatus of security and logistics. At least nine US aircraft landed at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi carrying advance teams, communications equipment, armoured vehicles, and technical personnel. Soldiers were deployed to rooftops and key intersections throughout Islamabad's Red Zone. Roads were sealed, schools were shifted to online operations, and government departments transitioned to remote working arrangements. The security preparations were vast and expensive — and ultimately, the talks themselves never materialised, as Iran's Foreign Minister left Islamabad without meeting American negotiators, and President Trump cancelled his envoys' flight to Pakistan.

Authorities finally lifted the bulk of the transport restrictions on Saturday evening after it became clear that the second round of talks would not proceed as planned. The Islamabad district administration announced the restoration of all bus terminal operations across the capital, with the exception of the Faizabad terminal, which remained shuttered until further notice. In Rawalpindi, all entry and exit points for private, public, and goods transport were formally reopened, though the Pirwadhai Adda remains closed pending a further review. Metro bus services between Rawalpindi's Saddar Station and Islamabad's Shaheed-i-Millat Station resumed operations from Sunday morning, along with the Punjab government's electric bus fleet on all EV routes across the twin cities. Recreational spaces, including the Margalla Hills hiking trails, Daman-e-Koh, and Lake View Park, were also reopened to the public.

The episode has exposed a profound tension at the heart of Pakistan's diplomatic ambitions. As Islamabad burnishes its credentials as a global peace mediator, hosting the world's most consequential negotiations between the United States and Iran, the ordinary citizens of the twin cities — drivers, labourers, women working as bus hostesses, workshop mechanics, tea stall operators — have borne the direct economic cost of those aspirations without compensation, prior notice, or a clear timeline. Advocacy groups and transport associations are now calling on the federal government to establish an emergency relief mechanism for workers affected by security-related shutdowns, and to develop a structured framework for managing future diplomatic events that minimises disruption to the livelihoods of the country's most economically vulnerable communities.