CYCLING NOT ALLOWED: Bagh-i-Jinnah and Jilani Park in Lahore have fine cycling tracks stretching over a few kilometres, and people used to enjoy the facility for both recreational and fitness purposes. However, the security guards are not permitting cyclists anymore, simply telling them that cycling is no more allowed. If one asks the reason, the guards start misbehaving instead of clarifying the reason for not allowing the cyclists inside. Will the administration come forward and clarify what the cycling tracks are for if the cyclists are not allowed in?

Yousaf Babur
Lahore

PERILOUS TIMES: We are living in perilous times in Pakistan where media houses and television anchors are trying to become political stakeholders. The ordinary man on the street is behaving like an expert on politics. The clergy is busy in purifying the country. The lawyers are becoming part-time politicians, and the politicians are behaving like Russian tsars. All this obliquely suggests that those supposed to stand aside are playing kingmakers.

Isphanyar M. Bhandara
Former MNA
Rawalpindi

RELIEF AND GRIEF: A rain forecast first comes as a relief amid days of sweltering heat, but when it actually starts falling down, the ‘relief’ turns into ‘grief’ before long. The incapacity of the city infrastructure to stand rainfall beyond a routine spell lasting 15-20 minutes simply indicates the incompetence and negligence on the part of the relevant authorities. Will the local authorities wake up before the next spell?

Shahzad Ali Channa
Karachi

EASY WAY OUT: The element of bail has made it easy for most criminals to get off the hook after committing a crime, or crimes as the case may be. Culprits having such an ‘escape’ route at their disposal get their lawyers to make use of it even after the government consolidates the police and prosecution forces. Such reforms will remain obsolete as long as the alleged criminals have the element of bail available.

Sattar Mohammadi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022