KARACHI, July 12: Traffic police closed various thoroughfares and roads on Tuesday to facilitate President Pervez Musharraf, which resulted in massive traffic jams and caused severe hardships to motorists and commuters. Police closed the traffic in the morning on one of the city’s busiest roads – the M.A. Jinnah Road – for hours as the President had to use it to reach the OMI Hospital.

The police also closed down the Zaibunnisa Street in Saddar and stopped shopkeepers from lifting shutters of their shops. The shops remained closed till 1pm and so was the road.

Officials said the reason why the two roads were closed was because it was a method of camouflage so that no one knew which route the President used.

The M.A. Jinnah Road, the Shahrah-i-Quaideen, and Sharea Faisal were closed for traffic, which resulted in jams on several roads for hours.

The closure of roads had caused piling up of traffic on various link roads to Sharea Faisal, M.A. Jinnah Road, and Shahrah-i-Quaideen, which took several hours clear.

Severe traffic jams were also witnessed in Soldier Bazaar, Guru Mandir, Teen Hatti, Jamshed Road, Jail Road, Garden, while the traffic coming from the Merewether Tower and I.I. Chundrigar Road was clogged in Saddar.

Meanwhile, the movement of heavy vehicles during the day added to the miseries of motorists.

The traffic police, instead of managing and regulating the traffic, switched off all traffic signals and disappeared from roads, leaving motorists and public transporters stranded.

The traffic police attitude and massive mismanagement on their part aggravated traffic problems and caused arguments between many drivers.

This resulted in a traffic mess at many places where long queues of vehicles were seen. These areas included the S.M. Taufeeq Road in Liaquatabad, Nishter Road, Jail Road, University Road, Shahrah-i-Liaquat in the old city area, Burnes Road, Garden Road, etc.

Police also erected barricades at all traffic signals on the President’s expected routes and turnings on Sharea Faisal to restrict motorists from crossing the thoroughfare.

Parking on either side of both expected routes of the President was prohibited and many vehicles already parked since morning were removed.

Motorists, who later found their cars missing, were seen looking for their vehicles helplessly while the district or traffic police did not bother to help them out.

Traffic remained jammed until evening exposing the performance of the traffic police. They miserably failed to control and regulate the movement of vehicles.

A motorist said the President and Prime Minister were heavily guarded at the cost of the citizens whenever they visited the city.

He raised questions: “Why should the President not take care of his citizens. His orders not to put people in trouble are never followed by the administration, but the president has never noticed grievances of the people.”

A commuter said he could not understand the reason why the police had closed two main arteries to give more pain to the citizens.

He said the logic behind it was incomprehensible, as the police could have closed one artery and increased security on it. In this way, only one road would have remained closed.