For residents of Islamabad who are used to traffic congestions due to the presence of some important persons or the other, it may come as a surprise that most blockades are illegal.

According to the protocol described by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), only the president, prime minister and visiting heads of states are entitled to VVIP security in which traffic can be blocked for a maximum of two minutes.

However, the law does not deter others in the power corridor from claiming the privilege. The most prominent among these are former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, former interior minister Rehman Malik and former president Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf.

In the second week of December, the Islamabad police approached the interior ministry requesting it to provide a guideline for VIPs seeking additional security. According to police sources, the letter was sent to the interior ministry after former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry sought route security for his son-in-law.

The latter was then accompanied by the police from the CJP’s official residence to the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

The letter stated that during Mr Chaudhry’s movements, 80 personnel of the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) were deployed to ensure complete traffic blockade in violation of the rules. In addition, it said that police force was deployed hours before the movements.

Mr Chaudhry had been using the VVIP protocol since 2007 till his retirement, police sources claimed.

“The first time the ex-CJP demanded VVIP security was on March 9, 2007 when he visited Gen (retired) Musharraf at the Army House in Rawalpindi,” a police officer told Dawn.

Ironically, the same escort vehicles which had provided the security later took Mr Chaudhry to his official residence a few hours later where he was kept under house arrest.

The police officer said Mr Chaudhry was given security on 307 occasions while his family received VVIP protocol during various visits. “Following his retirement, Mr Chaudhry has now demanded a bullet-proof vehicle and police escort too,” the officer added.

Similarly, former president Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf is still enjoying VVIP security protocol even though he is not entitled to it.

Since his presence in Islamabad in March this year, VVIP security routes have been laid down for him on 25 occasions in addition to security on 262 other occasions, sources said.

However, the police have now approached Rangers who are providing security to Mr Musharraf, and have informed them that VVIP protocol would no longer be provided to the former president.

Former interior minister Rehman Malik had also used VVIP security protocol during the five years of PPP rule. He used to have an escort of police, Frontier Constabulary and Rangers, sources said.

According to a police officer, three former judges of the Supreme Court had three to four policemen even though they were allowed only one policeman. Similarly, several politicians had a contingent of policemen which the official said would be withdrawn soon.

The detail of security measures provided to various VVIPs since 2011 have been listed in the table provided. Apart from the VIPs, even the VVIPs are found violating the standard procedure.

For example, both lanes of a road are blocked during VVIP movement 15 to 20 minutes beforehand, even though the rule maintains that only one lane can be closed and that too for two minutes only.

Section 100 of the Blue Book lays down the rules for the protection of the president, prime minister and foreign heads of states visiting Pakistan.