THERE seems to be no writ or governance as far as the traffic and car parking issues are concerned in areas around Bahria University in Islamabad. Parking has become a major issue for university campuses as enrollments have grown over the years and the availability of parking spaces has not been able to keep pace with it. Students continue to struggle to find places to park, which causes parking violations and parking in streets and roads, violating the rights of the residents of such areas.

We, the residents of sector F-8/2, main Margalla Road and all the connecting streets, are facing a huge difficulty in even walking from one place to another as all the streets, roads, parking spaces, grounds and parks in the vicinity are full of parked vehicles.

It is a huge challenge for the residents to drive through those closely parked vehicles to go about their life. The students and drivers of private taxis and vans are difficult to interact with due to their short-tempered ill-mannerism. Such interactions only add to the frustration.

The same is the case in areas like Ayub Market and the adjoining roads and streets where vehicles of a private company are parked in every nook and corner. A few lawyers are the lone exception who are ‘allowed’ to park their own vehicles in the area.

The prevailing situation indicates a collapse of governance, and calls for some immediate intervention from the respective university administrations, district management and, indeed, the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

M. Irfan Siddique
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2022