KARACHI, Sept 2: Heavy deployment of law-enforcement agencies was made and hundreds of vehicles parked on either side of Sharea Faisal were removed by the traffic police on Monday due to the security measures taken for the arrival of President Pervez Musharraf.

A spokesman for the Inter Services Public Relations told Dawn that President Pervez Musharraf had arrived in the city and he was scheduled to participate in a BBC’s programme “Question Time Pakistan” at Royale Dale Club in Khayaban-i-Sehar off Beach Avenue. The army and paramilitary forces had been deployed at the venue for security purposes, he added.

The president’s visit to the metropolis on August 10 was postponed at the eleventh hour as clearance was not given by the intelligence agencies, the sources said.

The deployment of paramilitary forces and the police was made in the afternoon when their unusual movement was witnessed. The traffic police started taking away the parked vehicles on either sides of the service roads on Sharea Faisal without intimating the people that the president was due in the city.

Heavy deployment and surprise action of the police to remove parked vehicles from the Sharea Faisal right from Star Gate near the airport to the Metropole Hotel perturbed the peaceful citizens. A variety of rumours began circulating in the city and a fear gripped the area along Sharea Faisal in particular and the city in general.

“We have made the deployment of police in connection with a VVIP movement on Sharea Faisal,” City Police Officer Asad Jehangir told Dawn on Monday evening over the phone.

To a question as to whether the president had reached the city, he said: “No, not as yet. He (the president) is about to land in the city.”

When his attention was drawn towards citizens’ miseries, who were in trouble after their parked vehicles were removed by the police, Asad Jehangir said the police were informed at the eleventh hour. “As soon as we were intimated, we informed the people.” The police had to take security measures and the vehicles were removed for security purposes, he added.

A woman said she had parked her vehicle on the service road near nursery on Sharea Faisal. She went to an office in a nearby building and returned after half an hour and did not find her vehicle. She noticed an uncertain atmosphere as there was heavy deployment of law-enforcement agencies and people were unaware of this surprise development. She thought her vehicle was stolen and she approached the police but she did not get a satisfactory reply. She said it was not the way of taking security measures by creating trouble for citizens. A man, who had parked his vehicle on a service lane opposite Masjid-i-Roomi, said that when he returned he did not find his vehicle. “My first thought was that my car has been stolen. I approached the police, who said the cars were removed due to security measures.”

He said he went to one police check post to another but he did not find his car and police were unaware of his vehicle. He lost more than four hours and then he found the car, which was parked on one of the inside streets of the same locality.