KARACHI: Thousands of travellers suffer for PM’s safety
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, May 21: People in the city faced immense hardship on Saturday owing to the unannounced closure of different roads for ‘safe and free’ movement of the prime minister. Much of the city’s police strength was spared to provide security to the prime minister’s motorcade. Due to these security measures, many of the city’s police stations were without adequate police force and the police were unable to entertain hundreds of distress calls made on the Madadgar 15, according to police sources.
The prime minister, during his visit to the city in early March, had directed the police not to create problems for citizens by blocking the roads much before his scheduled movement. However, the traffic police did not heed his directives. They carried out their traditional practice of blocking several roads for several hours, rendering motorists and commuters stranded in the deluge of vehicles amid the humid and hot weather conditions.
The traffic police blocked Sharea Faisal and many link roads when the prime minister visited the residence of an industrialist and philanthropist to condole his death. Many roads leading to Mohammad Ali Society were also closed. Motorists and commuters, astonished by the unexpected closure of the roads, were seen asking each other and the police about the reason for the move.
The police deployed there had, however, had no answer as they also were unaware of the well-guarded movement of the prime minister. They would only say that security has been increased for some reasons.
The curious people appeared panicked and disappointed due to the response from the police personnel. Many of the stranded people suspected that some sort of operation might be in progress.
When the prime minister visited the Marriott and Sheraton hotels to attend some functions, the police closed Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Aiwan-i-Saddar Road, Abdullah Haroon Road and a portion of Sharea Faisal to facilitate his movement and safe arrival at the hotels. The sudden closure of these vital arteries in peak business hours created a hotchpotch in Saddar and there were some of the worst traffic jams on I.I. Chundrigar Road, Deen Mohammad Wafai Road, M. R. Kiyani Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Zaibunnisa Street, Shahrah-i-Iraq, M.T. Khan Road, etc.
As all these roads remained absolutely clogged due to the jams, and the traffic police appeared helpless in clearing the same, the occupants of hundreds of vehicles remained stuck up for considerable time in the prevailing hot and humid weather.
People coming from Clifton and Defence areas were also faced with an unbearable situation in the afternoon when the traffic police closed certain roads. The motorists had already been hit by serious movement problems due to the hindrances caused by the construction work for an underpass in Clifton. The closure of the remaining open roads for the premier’s ‘safe movement’ added to their miseries as they were left with no option but to brave the scorching heat with no escape route.
One of the affected motorist said that it took him 45 minutes to reach the Arts Council from the KESC’s head office on Abdullah Haroon Road, located at a distance of a few minutes walk. “The prime minister should not visit the city if he feels so insecure,” he remarked.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister visited the Hamdard University.
He used a helicopter to get to the varsity but right from the State Guest House to the helipad at the Faisal Base, the entire Sharea Faisal was heavily guarded. No vehicle was allowed to be parked at any place along the either side of the service roads whereas the already parked vehicles were removed to the streets behind the main artery.
Owners of the vehicles were seen perturbed as they could not find their vehicles at the place they had parked them and had not idea where their vehicles could be. No traffic police official was there to help them.
