ON the eve of Aug 14 the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad were handed over to motorcycle-borne louts and riffraff. The bikes and even some run-down cars on the pretext of Independence Day celebrations were driven at high speed and zigzagging dangerously imperiling their own and other citizens’ lives.

There was virtually no police presence and it seemed the mayhem was being let loose under government patronage. What was most galling was the absence of police.

In civilised countries, celebratory parades are held with grace, discipline and gravitas, whereas here it was an open season on normal travellers driving their vehicles in that mad atmosphere. What was most disturbing was that main roads like GT Road, Kashmir Highway, and Islamabad Expressway were at the mercy of trouble creators.

At places some desperate car drivers with families even went to the extent of ramming their cars into the misbehaving motorcyclists. At zero point there was a long-lasting traffic jam with the cars parked right on the main Islamabad Highway to watch the exploding pyrotechnics.

Nations celebrate their independence but what was being celebrated on our roads with this shameless display of traffic indiscipline and bad manners by apparently uncouth and uneducated bikers defies explanation. Do we not owe it to our youth to teach them some manners?

Public safety and convenience should be the prime concern of the state, and care should be taken to earmark special venues away from major highways for such celebratory fervour.

A citizen

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2019