09 March 2005	Wednesday	27 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, March 8: People faced hardships on Tuesday as traffic police closed various roads for movement of prime minister's motorcade.

Many city areas wore deserted look as law-enforcers ordered shopkeepers to shut their businesses and blocked roads for all kinds of traffic in Federal B Area, well before the visit of the prime minister to the Tabba Heart Institute.

The police ordered the people to shift their cars. Those who failed to do so, their cars were lifted and dropped at other places, leaving owners of the cars in a lurch. The police also removed pushcarts and vendors. They removed the vendors along Sharah-i-Pakistan from Sohrab Goth to Aisha Manzil and up to Mukkah Chowk.

Parents, who visited schools in the nearby locality, were not allowed to park their vehicles to pick their children. "The behaviour of the police was rude enough to tolerate", Sami Khan said. "What is the justification of imposing a ban on parking before a school for five minutes to pick a child?

The police blocked the main road of Sharah-i-Pakistan for traffic and the road running from Aisha Manzil to Mukkah Chowk. The road remained closed for three hours and the area wore a deserted look.

"We were told to close shops on Monday evening as the prime minister visited the Nine-Zero." Besides, the police action to block roads caused traffic jams and its impact was felt on Shah Waliullah Road, Rashid Minhas Road in North Nazimabad and Gulshan-i-Iqbal. People were seen waiting for public transport without knowing that the police had diverted the traffic to alternative routes.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister visited the Karachi City railway station to inaugurate the local train service. He boarded the local train and travelled up to the Cantonment Railway Station. At the two stations, there was a heavy deployment of police and rangers. I I Chundrigar Road and all roads leading to the Cantonment Station were closed for traffic.

The two railway stations were also closed for train traffic which delayed the departure of Bolan Mail for 3:30 hours; Mehran Express for 3:30 hours, Allama Iqbal Express for two hours, Tezgam for 45 minutes, Karachi Express for one hour, Faisalabad Express for 1:35 hours, Zakaria Express for one hour, and Balochistan Express for 50 minutes.

Sources said as many as 200 railway workers on goods trains were not allowed to work instead they were told to go home. The booking and reservation offices remained closed for security reasons.