KARACHI, March 28: City witnessed worst traffic jams on Monday on Sharea Faisal and other roads due to movement of President Pervez Musharraf in the city.
Several roads were closed well before the arrival of President Musharraf and motorists and commuters suffered due to uncalled for action of the traffic police. The closure of roads led to piling up of traffic on various roads, linking Sharea Faisal.
Severe traffic jams were witnessed around National Stadium in the afternoon and Metropole, Baloch Colony, Nursery, Drig Road, and other link roads to Sharea Faisal which was closed for traffic in the evening, right from Army Headquarters to the airport.
The vehicles amalgamated at Civic Centre roundabout. The movement of heavy vehicles during the day added to the miseries of motorists.
The traffic police, instead of managing and regulating the traffic flow, switched off all traffic signals, and disappeared from roads, leaving the motorists and public transporters to move at their own. This resulted in a traffic mess at various points, leading to jams and long queues of vehicles near the junction of Stadium Road and Sir Shah Suleman Road.
Traffic coming from Sir Shah Suleiman Road, Jail Chowrangi New M.A. Jinnah Road got stuck in the morning and afternoon.
Police had put up barricades on all traffic signals and turnings on Sharea Faisal to restrict motorists to cross the thoroughfare.
Parking on either side of the service road was prohibited and many vehicles already parked were removed from the main artery. Motorists found their cars missing, and these were located in the nearby streets.
People complained that they were not allowed even to enter any of the buildings facing the main artery of Sharea Faisal. They said they were not allowed to stop their cars or turn into any of the link road.
The motorists trying to enter Sharea Faisal from Tariq Road, Sindhi Muslim Housing Society, Rashid Minhas Road, or any other link roads were forced to wait for hours due to closure of the thoroughfare.
A motorist said that the president and the prime minister whenever visit the city, they suffer a lot.
“Our leaders are afraid of their lives, and they take heavy guards including police and rangers with them. Why do they claim that law and order situation is under control.”
Another motorist said he had failed to understand why the turning on Sharea Faisal at any point was prohibited. It forced motorists to start from Metropole and stop at Malir without taking a turn.
Similarly, people in Malir, Landhi, Quaidabad and other parts of Landhi and Korangi suffered for several hours as activists of a political party held a protest demonstration from Qaiudabad to the Malir Courts. They were criticising construction of Kalabagh dam.
Hundreds of buses and private vehicles, carrying school and college students, remained stranded on the main National Highway. A large number of bus operators changed their routes, and dropped passengers in the middle, and started a fresh journey for the downtown.
Traffic police and police remained a silent spectator as a handful of activists continued their protest.
Commuters complained that they had to suffer for no fault as such demonstrations are now being held on roads and roundabouts off.
