KARACHI, Jan 27: Madadgar is another name the Karachi police have given themselves, and they make tall claims about the achievements of the Madadgar force. But what citizens experience usually puts in doubt the very meaning of the word Madadgar, which means “helper.” One is inclined to think with people who are of the view that in the present-day world most of the words have lost their true meanings, so it is better to take the opposite meaning of words if one wants to avoid shock.

At 12:30 midnight on Sunday at Fawwara Chowk policemen held nearly 30 passengers, men, women and children, of a Muslim coach hostage for about an hour. The coach coming from Keamari on its way to Gulshan-i-Hadeed was stopped by policemen of Artillery Maidan police station at Fawwara Chowk. Policemen said this coach was being requisitioned in connection with the Sindh Assembly session on Monday, so the passengers should get down from it. Then they ordered the coach driver to take the vehicle to Artillery Maidan police station. The policemen told passengers that they would be boarded on another Muslim coach, which was probably the last coach of the day to go in that direction. The driver and the conductor began arguing with policemen. The argument continued endlessly.

When one of the passengers asked policemen who had ordered the requisitioning of public transport vehicles and why at this time of the night when buses stop running on roads. One of the police constable, who was too hot-headed, said bluntly the DIG (Operations), Tariq Jameel, had ordered the requisitioning and they received the order late at night. When passengers said the DIG might have ordered the requisitioning of buses and coaches, but he would certainly not have told policemen to harass bus passengers at late night. To this, none of the policemen had an answer.

When a passenger asked the hot-headed policeman to get their fare returned from the conductor of the coach that was being seized by the police, he told the passenger to keep quiet.

Requests by passengers, men, women and children not to detain the coach at midnight had absolutely no effect on policemen. The hot- headed policeman, meanwhile, kept on loudly uttering foul language. He was not in the least bit inhibited by the presence of women while using four-letter words.

The policemen had come to the place in two mobiles. Both the mobiles were parked at Fawwara Chowk. One of the mobiles carried number 59 on its number plate.

Finally, when after nearly one hour another Muslim coach arrived at the bus stop, the passengers of the other coach were put into that coach. Thus ended the ordeal of the poor passengers and the “hostage drama” about 1:30am.

With reference to the Madagar force, one of the passengers was overheard uttering the following couplet:

Wahshat mein har naqsha ulta nazar aata hai

Majnoon nazar aati hai, Laila nazar aata hai.