The caretaker

Is it possible to fall in love with an inanimate object? Perhaps it is, for I have been in love with my motorcycle for no less than nine years. So what happens when someone steals it from you? You turn utterly disconsolate, and are constantly hounded by the memories that are indelibly associated with it. I’m going through that same phase.

On Nov 16 our ‘caretaker’ Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro was visiting Clifton, or so I was told by traffic constables. The duty-bound traffic police were busy trying to make the area as clean as a whistle and as safe as a house for the prime minister. In the process they towed away the vehicles that were parked outside residential buildings at Teen Talwar. My 18-year-old motorbike was also stationed there, on the side-stand, like a forlorn princess rooted to the ground sensing the danger of being dethroned. Some wise police officer lifted the bike and placed it on the footpath alongside the shops that are on the ground floor of the residential block I live in.

It was at 1am on Nov 18 that I came down my flat and saw the bike on the footpath. Then I started looking for the car that my better half drives. The police had taken it approximately 100 yards away from where it was parked since evening. I implored the building’s watchman to drive the car back to a safer location near the flat so that I could feel less edgy. As the chowkidar and I got back with the car, the bike had vanished. When I asked a cop standing right where the two-wheeler had disappeared, he sheepishly replied, “Two young guys came and enquired about their bike. I said there’s only one motorbike here and that’s placed on the footpath. They rode the bike and whizzed past Clifton Bridge in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”I was flabbergasted. I scampered towards the police patrol party that was there to prevent any ‘untoward’ incident and informed it about the situation. They displayed their indifference with a touch of helplessness. I had no choice but to go the nearest thana and lodge a report with them.

I haven’t the foggiest who took my motorcycle away. All I know is that I miss it sorely. Our companionship is nine years old. We’ve been with each other through thick and thin, the former most of the time. And I request the prime minister not to visit Karachi with his cavalcade anymore. He can easily avail the services of a helicopter. That’s safer and doesn’t bug the life out of the citizens.—Peerzada Salman

A chilling ordeal

A few days ago our neighbours’ son and nephew went to drop their aunt off at home. After more than two hours – and since the boys were not responding to their mobiles – the mother of one of the boys called her sister to find out where they were. When she informed her that they had left immediately after dropping her, panic set in as is wont to do in a mother.

The alarm bells were not unjustified, as 30 minutes later the family received a threatening call from some gruff sounding individuals informing them that the boys were with them. To confirm the facts the boys were allowed to speak to their family.

Pandemonium broke loose in the otherwise peaceful home. A close-knit, large family, it wasn’t long before the other members rallied round the distraught kin in support. The demand for Rs400,000 was made, to be paid immediately or else. As the nephew’s parents live in Multan their demand for ransom was focused on the son. And since an uncle of one of the kidnapped boys was a provincial minister, the police immediately swung into action. It was decided that the amount was to be paid, with the police following the father discreetly in plainclothes till the time the boys were recovered and safely back home. And then the needful would be done.

But first there was the little matter of collecting the money. With banks closed at night and the kidnappers demanding the amount as soon as possible, the family collected money and jewellery to equal the demand. The poor father was then made to go from one destination to another in a taxi driven by a plainclothes police officer posing as a cab driver. After six hours of running around they were told to drop the money near the airport. Two hours later the boys arrived home, too distraught to talk.

Later, after having recovered somewhat they related what had happened. After having dropped the aunt at home, both the boys decided to have juice at a famous shop in a busy commercial area. But before the juice could arrive four young men materialized from out of nowhere and got into the car with guns pointed at them discreetly, so as not to let passers-by know what was happening. The two boys obeyed and drove to an area notorious for underworld activities.

It turned out that the kidnappers were part of a large gang comprising members from across the country which operated in the area, kidnapping people for ransom. The boys were locked in a room and beaten up to scare them into docility while the kidnappers indulged in drugs, drinking and playing cards to while away the time. They weren’t able to take away the car due to the tracking system installed in it.

This incident took place the day after the chief of the army staff declared emergency in the country. Now the nephew, who had come to Karachi to study, has returned to Multan at the insistence of his parents.

As for the family, their attitude has changed for the worse; they want to see the kidnappers dead! It was shocking to hear the most docile of people saying that those who had inflicted sufferings on their loved ones should be tortured as well. But perhaps this was a natural reaction.

Unfortunately, such incidents have become a regular feature and most people are no longer shocked by them. The government has miserably failed to rein in the numerous gangs operating in the city that are openly involved in robberies, kidnappings and street crime. More than 55 kidnappings have taken place this year as opposed to 27 last year.

My eight-year-old nephew refuses to go out and eat at his favourite food joints because he now fears he might be kidnapped. His parents are happy because of his cut down on unhealthy food, but they are equally worried that he has developed a phobia at such a young age.—Khursheed Hyder

Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali

Email: karachian@dawn.com

Neglected block

Sir,

In the heart of Clifton lies the incredibly neglected Block-2, where the residents are meted out step-motherly treatment at the hands of the KWSB, CDGK and other civic agencies concerned.

This area remained water-starved for three years and lately sewage has entered water lines causing gastroenteritis and skin diseases.

A few months ago notices were published in newspapers concerning the encroachment of the road and open areas by tankers and trailers, but firm action was never taken on this account.

The street-lights on Shahra-i-Ghalib remain switched off for reasons best known to the authorities. This creates traffic hazards and the risk of hold-ups by hoodlums. Another eyesore is the garbage collection post on disputed land next to the Sailing Club, where trucks dump garbage from distant areas of Saddar Town. Thereafter it is burnt, polluting the air and creating a nauseating stench. The nazim and the agencies concerned are requested to do the needful at the earliest.

RAFI ADAMJEE Karachi

Phone complaint

Sir,

My telephone number (278-3382) has been out of order since September 13, more than two months now. Numerous complaints on ‘18’ and even at the Saddar exchange have proved to be of no avail. I request the PTCL authorities to resolve my complaint at the earliest.

ABBAS ZULFIQAR ALI Saddar

Point less

Sir,

We, the students of the Sindh Medical College and Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, would like to bring to your notice that there is only one point for the students living in Nazimabad/North Nazimabad, because of which more than half of the students have to remain standing throughout the half hour journey.

The most important thing is that despite the fact that most of the seniors are on study leave for their exams, there is no place to sit. So you can imagine what will happen after their return. Besides, we think it would be a shame to see the points of the institute named after you in the worst condition imaginable.

Therefore, we request you to kindly make arrangements for a new point from the Shipowner’s College to Paposh to Nazimabad Gole Market.

We shall be very grateful to you for your cooperation in this regard.

STUDENTS OF SMC/DIIOHS Karachi

Misleading youth

Sir,

I was quite shocked to read the story filed by your reporter for Metropolitan in Dawn of Nov 11 about the non-participation of the student community in the agitation that has been started by some opposition parties against the government.

In plain words, the contents fall in the category of ‘instigating and misleading’ the young students. It sounds nothing short of an appeal to the younger generation to take to the streets and leave their studies.

I was utterly disappointed to see Dawn giving space to such a report that is far from objective. These are difficult times and journalists have to keep their cool and report sensibly. I have always respected the policy adopted by Dawn and consider it above the cheap journalism that we see from some newspapers these days.

Keeping the differences with the present regime and the grievances apart, it is not expected from a newspaper of Dawn’s stature to become a party, start instigating the youth and lose sight of objective reporting.

ALI SAJAWAL PECHS

Illegal construction

Sir,

I recently passed the road behind the NED University’s city campus and found that construction is being carried out at the back side of the building.

I suggest that the university administration stop the construction so that this heritage site may not be further disfigured and also to demolish what has illegally been constructed.

ANIS AHMED M.A. Jinnah Road

Traffic at schools

Sir,

In 1985 some girls were ploughed over by mini-buses, injuring many and killing Bushra Zaidi, while crossing the busy road in front of their school in Nazimabad, paralyzing the entire city in riots and curfew for months and costing the nation about Rs1.5 billion per day. However, we did not learn much from this sad experience, as similar situations are witnessed every day in front of several schools and colleges in Karachi.

A few examples include a school on Shaheed-i-Millat Road opposite Baloch Colony, a school on main Gizri Road and the Fatima Jinnah Women’s College, where students in large numbers cross the busy main roads twice a day, creating traffic jams, besides putting their lives in danger.

Overpasses or underpasses can be easily built at such places, besides separate lanes inside the premises — where space permits — for parking buses and cars for the students’ convenience, avoiding the need for such hazardous road crossings.

An economical design for such an underpass was published in the Pakistan Transport News of the Chartered Institute of Transport in 1994 and also in the Institution of Engineers Pakistan’s magazine of the 35th annual convention in Lahore the same year.

This can be easily tried in any such situation, without even cutting the road, as it offers a unique method, relying on the boring and jacking technique. Following this technique three or four such parallel subways could be built at such places, perhaps allowing shopping areas at such locations to pay back the cost in due course.

The CDGK may look into this aspect at its earliest convenience to avert another such disaster.

S.M.H. RIZVI Karachi

city@dawn.com