It was only when Raheel Ahmed heard about drivers to be thrown behind bars if found without a driving license did he check the expiry date on his own driving licence in his wallet. “It expired three years ago. I was going to be in big trouble if I didn’t get it renewed right away,” he said.

“But then after just a day or so, I saw another news item in the papers which said that drivers would not be jailed after all. Instead they would be ‘challaned or ticketed’. Simultaneously, there was another piece of news saying that the driving licence campaign had been postponed until February 2016. At least, they were giving us time to get our papers in order,” the young man appreciated.

Meanwhile, not having seen the extension or postponement news, several people lined up at their nearest driving licence issuing branches. Some of them had been driving for years but never even thought of applying for a licence before this. Some had a licence but weren’t sure if it was genuine as they had gotten it made by an agent or tout they had run into near a driving licence issuing branch.

Traffic police takes an intitiative to streamline issuance and validity of driving licences

“I thought of getting a driving licence would be a very difficult and lengthy procedure so I never even attempted to get one,” said Shahida Mahmood. “And my salt and pepper hair helped me in getting away without a licence. The traffic police is mostly focused on stopping youngsters to check their papers, etc., not an aging person and certainly not women,” she smiled.

“Believe me I intended getting a driving licence, I really did. But then when I reached the licence issuing branch I felt a bit overwhelmed thinking of what was in store for me there. That was when I was approached by this fellow, an agent, who said he can get it done for me easily. He said he knew the people inside and it would be no problem at all for him. From then onwards he would go inside and come back with demands for money and more money. He said the demands were from the officers inside. Getting my licence made this way cost me a small fortune but it got done finally. And the fellow didn’t want anything for himself. He only said ‘Sahib, aap ki jo bhi khushi ho aap de do’ (pay me whatever you feel like paying me),” said Ajab Dad Khan. “Now someone has pointed out that my licence may be fake and I don’t want to go to jail,” he added.

Inside, head of the Driving Licence Branch in Clifton, DSP Muhammad Akbar Niazi could barely keep himself from pulling out his hair while dealing with some cases brought to him. Speaking to this one man while examining his form, the DSP realised that the man was not copying what he was saying. “Sir, do you understand me?” the DSP asked. At this another person with the man pointed out that the one he was addressing was slightly deaf in one ear. The DSP raised his voice to help him hear better but it was no use. “My God! He is not hard of hearing, he’s stone deaf! We allow him anywhere near the road in a car and we would be causing accidents!” He announced, simply horrified before directing the man and the one with him to the doctor. “I don’t know how you passed the medical examination to come this far,” he said shaking his head.

There was more drama outside, in the little ground where they were taking practical tests. Passing his motorcycle test, one gentleman, who was applying for dual, car and motorcycle, licences hit the cones when backing up during his parking test. But he could not believe that. The officer taking the test then asked him to come out of the car and showed him his mistake. “Sir, we have cameras here that have recorded your test. Better luck next time,” the officer told him before informing him that he can always come back to take another test in 42 days.

Another officer watching the applicants taking their tests could tell from before who was going to pass and who was going to fail their practical test. There was a youngster who was hitting the accelerator unnecessarily. The officer said, he would fail, and surely he did. There was a lady asking too many questions. The officer said that she looked nervous and could fail just because of nerves. “I saw her drive to this area and she looked confident then. Now it can go anyway because she’s nervous,” he observed but thankfully she passed and was all smiles afterwards.

Perhaps the driving licence campaign was announced in haste. But DIG Driving Licence Karachi Dr Aftab Pathan sees it as the need of the hour although they didn’t realise how much rush that would bring to their licence issuing branches. Incidentally, Karachi only has three such branches, in Clifton, Korangi and Nazimabad, which are all now going through a tough time dealing with too many people coming to them after the campaign was announced. Obviously they can’t handle the rush.

“The public transport system is a mess. We don’t have trams, tubes or a circular railway. We are surrounded by private cars which keep on increasing in number. And the road space is the same with the government playing no role in lifting any of this burden. In this scenario we have to see that at least the vehicles on the road are fit and the people driving them are also fit to drive and have a proper license on them,” the DIG explained.

“But of the licences people carry, 87 per cent are fake and only 13pc genuine. Sick and tired of this nuisance there was the policy statement about jailing those without licences. Of course, looking at our own resources and infrastructure, not to mention the room in our jails, we had to announce an extension. During this time, the licence branches would begin upgrading their own system to manage the rush of drivers coming for licenses,” he said.

“Fake licenses are a big problem, and verifying the fake licences is an even bigger problem. We are not used to computer technology and the system is not interlinked. This means that a driving licence issued from Dadu or Mardan cannot be checked in Karachi. Thankfully now we can verify Karachi licences here on the spot after issuing 1,000 SIMs to our personnel. We hope to bring the entire system online in four months and also interlink all the cities.

“Quite frankly, this is needed all over Pakistan. Today, if a policy announced in Karachi is also announced in Lahore, for instance, there will be a bigger rush to licence issuing branches there too and the system will get choked.

“Finding shortcuts has become a part of people’s psyche here so they try to avoid the set procedure. But the set procedure, although it may consume your entire day while your application is forwarded from one stage to the next will save you money as a three-year licence costs only Rs1,200 and for a five-year licence the payment is only Rs1,800. It will also give you peace of mind. Getting genuine licences will also give us a peace of mind as 30pc of the money should come to us in order for us to improve our infrastructure.”

And to handle the pressure at the license issuing branches the DIG said there is work under way for setting up more such branches. “We have prepared a Rs110 million summary for 17 to 18 branches. Ideally, there should be one license branch in each of the 18 towns of Karachi.

“Then we also need a proper ground for practical tests. Also, right now those who appear for the tests bring their own car. This is an issue for the not so well off as where do they find a car to bring along for the practical? So we need extra funding for cars in which the drivers can take their tests and also for the fuel and maintenance of these cars,” he said, while adding that the government and law enforcement agencies right now have other priorities such as dealing with terrorism and other criminal activities, which makes driving licenses look like a small thing that can be overlooked. “But it is important to sort out such basic things and take it from there to straighten out the system,” he stressed.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 15th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play