KARACHI: The site which was just a day before packed with boisterous supporters of the Pakistan Peoples Party became a point of conflict between transporters and police on Sunday.

The transporters were demanding payment for the containers which they said the police had “forcibly taken to the venue” a week back. They also threatened to block the road if their containers were not given back to them.

Around afternoon, a group of transporters, who were called to the venue at around 8am, were either huddled together discussing what to do next or were busy haggling with police officers at the Bagh-i-Jinnah, while in the background a forklift truck with a police official in tow was busy putting empty containers onto a trailer.

Mohammad Ahmed Bhatti, a transporter, said: “Police officers forcibly took two containers from our drivers a week back. They have refused to pay us the rent which adds up to Rs4,000 including diesel.”

Soon, more transporters gathered there, and started speaking about the problems they face whenever the city witnesses a shutdown or hosts a public gathering.

Mohammad Arif, representing a textile company, Adam and Sons, said: “We have just been informed that the empty containers will now be moved to the Nishtar Park where preparations for the start of Muharram are under way.

“This means that now our containers will be away for 10 more days as there are many days to Muharram and then comes Rabiul Awal,” he said shaking his head in desperation.

The overall requirement for the containers at Bagh-i-Jinnah was about 50, said the transporters, “but they (police) stopped another 30 trailers just to earn extra bucks. And now they refuse to listen or hand them back to us.”

Arif added that they missed out on a deadline for a consignment which had to leave on Thursday for Germany. “We have a time limit for transferring consignments, within the city, from 11pm to 6am.

“On Wednesday last week, we took out our trailer mounted with an empty container from Keamari at around 3am, which is a little late for sending a trailer for a consignment and yet our driver was caught by the police and forced to hand it over to them,” he said.

Mohammad Nawaz, a transporter standing next to him, said that if a consignment was delayed, “the shipping owner charges a fine of $20 per day which goes from a trailer owner’s pocket.”

In another corner near a police mobile of the Soldier Bazaar police station, two station house officers (SHOs) were seen in a heated conversation with the transporters. But it did not appear to be going anywhere.

In plain clothes, the SHO of the Brigade Town police station, who gave his name only as Afridi, said: “We were asked by high officials to arrange around 50 containers. Those who are not willing to cooperate with us are welcome to take back their containers. But we are moving all containers without an owner to Nishtar Park.”

He, however, rejected the claim that they had forcibly taken the containers from the drivers; a statement which was sniggered at by those standing around him.

Karachi was known to have political activities all at once or nothing at all, said information secretary of the Transporter Goods Association, Naveed Memon.

“But whenever there’s a protest or a political rally, our drivers are harassed by the law enforcers and the protesters alike. Anyone unhappy with the system and wanting to vent the anger forcibly takes away our containers and we have evidence of police helping them out,” he said.

Explaining further, he said, there was a system to ask for a container which had happened for the past few rallies as well. “A person from a political party calls us, asks our price for the day and pays it to us by the end of a rally. But apart from a handful of them, nobody thinks about fulfilling formalities. We face abuse and threats if we demand charges for the use of our containers,” he adds.

Taj Haider, the PPP senator overlooking transport for those attending the rally from various districts, said: “We are looking into the matter. And we hope to resolve it amicably.”

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014