PTI chief Imran Khan claims that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has given greater autonomy to the police, but he should also highlight how the KP chief minister is blamed by the traffic police for taking away their autonomy.

Last month, a motorcyclist while trying to overtake me hit my vehicle from behind on G.T. Road, Peshawar. The accident damaged my car. Luckily, there were traffic police around who witnessed the accident.

However, they let the motorcyclist go without any fine. While the motorcyclist had neither a driving licence nor the CNIC. The motorcycle was not registered and carried a numberplate stating ‘2015’ on it.

I was shocked to see the traffic police charged him only Rs200 fine and let him go without impounding the bike. On my complaint, the traffic police told me that the chief minister had ordered them not to impound motorcycles and not charge higher than Rs200.

I told the traffic policemen that I had been paying all taxes and had a driving licence, while an illegal vehicle hit my car, which not only would cost me money but also would waste my time in workshops. As a legal and taxpaying citizen, I suffered while the non-taxpayer driving without a licence went scot-free with only Rs200 fine. Where was the justice in this system? The traffic police simply told me to ask the chief minister to change the policy.

The chief minister should provide greater autonomy to traffic police.

Shahryar Khan

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017