KARACHI, Sept 12: General public in the metropolis would experience great inconvenience for several days this week due to the security and traffic arrangements being made for the defence exhibition 'Ideas 2004' which opens on Monday.

Police will close various major arteries to ensure a 'foolproof' security for VIPs, foreign dignitaries and other officials invited to the exhibition. A spokesman for the police department said in a statement that some specified roads would remain closed to normal traffic from Monday (Sept 13) through Thursday (Sept 17).

"People are informed to extend their cooperation to the traffic police by adopting alternative routes and keeping the city clean to welcome the guests," the statement said.

The police enforced an unannounced closure of the Club Road, Fatima Jinnah Road and Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road on Sunday also, causing problems to commuters. The portion of the Abdullah Haroon Road in front of the US consulate has been kept opened, but only for cars.

Well-informed sources said that Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Road, from Hotel Mehran to Cantonment railway station, was closed for security reasons as President Pervez Musharraf stayed at the Army House upon his arrival in the city in connection with the exhibition. To facilitate movement of VVIPs, the I. I. Chundrigar Road was also closed to normal traffic at about 9pm on Sunday.

A chaotic situation was witnessed when police, apparently getting panicked by the president's arrival, closed many roads around the Army House. The Club Road, housing five-star hotels along it, was cordoned off to facilitate the arrangements for foreign delegates' stay at the hotels.

Mismanagement, mainly on the part of police, started disturbing the normal traffic flow since Friday night when the city's premier thoroughfare, Sharea Faisal, was blocked at its Awami Markaz section at about 1:30am without making a formal announcement to this effect.

Motorists, who were diverted to Tipu Sultan Road, experienced immense hardship in reaching their destination, said one of the affected motorist. He pointed out that the deluge of vehicles was heading towards Stadium Road after passing through Tipu Sultan Road, it again faced a stiff clogging on Karsaz Road and then Sir Shah Mohammad Suleman Road. The flow was diverted back towards New Town round about on Stadium Road, he added.

According to the affected people, an Edhi ambulance carrying a patient remained stranded in the deluge as it was not allowed to proceed towards Karsaz Road. The policemen posted there kept the ambulance unmoved for more than 15 minutes only to compel its driver to return towards the New Town roundabout.

In relation to the road closure in other areas, the city police had issued a traffic diversion plan, in exercise of the powers delegated to them under section 4(g) of the Police Order 2002 which states that police have powers to regulate and control traffic of public roads and streets.

The sources, however, pointed out that closure of roads was the domain of the city government under the SLGO 2001. They maintained that the police did not take the city government into confidence about the closure of certain roads to be closed to normal traffic during the four-days exhibition.

The police spokesman said that parking of vehicles along Sir Shah Mohammad Suleman Road (from National Stadium to Hasan Square intersection) and University Road (from Hasan Square to Bait-ul-Mukarram mosque) had been prohibited.

During the exhibition days, he said, Sir Shah Mohammad Suleman Road, from Hasan Square to the National Stadium crossing, would remain closed from 10am to 6pm. Similarly, Habib Ibrahim Rehmatullah Road (known as Karsaz Road) will also remain closed from 9am to 9pm for heavy vehicles, trucks, buses, minibuses, etc.

The Aiwan-i-Saddar Road would remain closed from 6pm to 12am on Sept 14 whereas Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, from PIDC roundabout to Shaheen Complex, would remain closed on Sept 15 and 16 from 6pm to 12am for all types of traffic, the spokesman added.

He said that 13 emergency centres had been established in the city and for assistance in any emergency or for lodging a complaint, people could dial '1338' during the exhibition days.