September 26, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 2, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 25: The Lahore High Court Bar Association on Monday demanded an end to the culture of suspending normal traffic for VIPs stating that such a `protective’ measure was unconstitutional and illegal.

A resolution, unanimously adopted by an LHCBA general meeting, said the traffic blockade protection did not allow even ambulances and fire brigade vehicles to make exit.

The resolution cited the example of Dr Rehan Ejaz Rana who lost his life in such a traffic blockade. It said the doctor met with an accident near Pasroor. He was being driven to Lahore for surgery in an ambulance, which got stuck up in a traffic jam caused because of blockade the police had placed to give the safe exit to acting Punjab governor Mohammad Afzal Sahi.

According to the resolution, the traffic jam continued for about four hours as the police left the scene soon after Mr Sahi’s cavalcade had passed by without regulating vehicular traffic.

Speaking on the occasion, former LHCBA president Ahmad Awais, Jamil Ahmad Chaudhry, Mohammad Iqbal, Shahid Mahmood Bhatti and others said the VIP culture had not only taken the life of a surgeon but the death of the humanity. They said despite tall claims, the culture did not die because it was deep rooted in national life as the ruling classes did not want an end to it.

They said Mr Sahi was responsible for the death of the brother of five sisters who had just returned home after securing degrees in surgery and could not get surgery himself. They said stopping even ambulances and fire fighting vehicles was criminal as nowhere in the world emergency vehicles were stopped.

The resolution demanded that no route anywhere in the country should be blocked only to protect individuals. It demanded that no road should be blocked even for security reasons.