14 February 2004	Saturday	22 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 13: Citizens had to face inconvenience on Friday, the second consecutive day, due to surprising closure of some arteries for providing a foolproof security to President Musharraf.

However, the government officials said that the president took notice of the reports about traffic jams on his arrival in the city on Thursday. He issued directives to the law enforcement agencies to regulate traffic in such a manner that people should not face any inconvenience. The president asked the authorities that traffic should not be suspended for long.

Setting aside the president's instruction, some roads remained closed for hours on Friday causing great nuisance to motorists and commuters. Besides, heavy deployment of police, Rangers and military police were also seen deployed at different points.

Fuel filling stations, lying on way to the president, were forced to close down by the law enforcers, as the president had moved from Army House to the Chief Minister House in the morning to preside over a meeting attended by senators, ministers, and other members of the provincial assembly.

The petrol pumps were particularly closed because the last attempt on the president life was prompted from a fuel filling station in Rawalpindi on Dec 25. A yellow demarcation strip was drawn around each fuel filling station besides water tankers were parked to block their entry and exit points.

Senior official of a law enforcement agency said, "We closed fuel filling stations as a precautionary measure. Some roads were also closed for the safety of the president as his life is in extreme danger," he added.

A portion of Sharea Faisal, Club Road, Aiwan-i-Saddar Road, a portion from Metropole to Fawwara Chowk on Abdullah Haroon Road, and Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road from Hoshang Chowk to Shaheen Complex remained closed in the morning till noon. The law enforcers had lifted vehicles parked on either side of the roads.

The closure of main arteries in the heart of the city created a traffic chaos in the rush hours and people faced severe hardships in reaching their offices and workplaces.

Traffic jams on Sharea Faisal, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Zaibunnisa Street were also witnessed in the morning and its impact was felt on M.A. Jinnah Road, Regal Chowk, Empress Market and other streets. The public transport vehicles were also diverted to other routes adding to miseries of commuters.

The law enforcers went a step forward and imposed a ban even on the movement of pedestrians in the area, where vehicle traffic was already disallowed. The law enforcement agencies blocked the roads and opened them subsequently with intervals in the morning.

An official said, "It is dodging tactics. We close and open roads as soon as we receive directives. No one knows, even we don't know when the president will pass through the way," he said.

The barricades were removed and roads were opened for traffic in the afternoon, however, the entire exercise was repeated in the evening when the president came out of Governor House. The roads were again closed during night, as the president returned to the Governor House to attend a function.