TO check whether the rice is well-cooked, just a grain is enough to assess the taste and readiness of the entire cauldron, goes an Urdu proverb. That the country is dysfunctional is axiomatic, but if some incurable optimist insists on seeing further evidence, few examples are more embarrassing than our ‘Panni’ check post (I-8 checkpoint) on the expressway connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

‘Panni’ is a local term for wrapping or film, usually clear. For years, traffic on this signal-free, five-lane marvel has been heavily jammed for hours every day, due to a lack of understanding of traffic engineering, poor security measures, and a disregard for citizens. There was a time when long queues of vehicles stretched for kilometres during the morning and evening rush hours at the Panni post. Now, you can encounter this frustrating jam at any time. The reasons range from boys playing cricket in Rawalpindi to the Pakistan Cricket Board, in its wisdom, putting them up in Islamabad hotels to be ferried to and from the stadium, thereby warranting road closures and causing terrible logjams.

While the boys played cricket, the prime minister noted that the return of international cricket boosted the global business community’s confidence in Pakistan’s investment climate. Who knows, maybe Moody’s and Fitch do look at PCB’s home-series schedules to assess the country’s credit ratings. Within a few days, several delegates to an investment forum reportedly couldn’t reach the venue due to strict security for the cricketers staying at the hotel where the forum was held.

Another occasion for making commuters’ lives miserable is when civil and security officials, including members of the cabinet and judiciary, travel anywhere. The size of the motorcade and the make and model of the vehicles are not just a sign of their rank but also determine the duration of the road closure. The VIPs, foreign dignitaries visiting Islamabad, still use the old Chaklala airport in Rawalpindi. Their security is definitely important; however, the way the state continues to think about it is dated.

Ensuring the country’s security and protecting its honourable guests does not start on the roadside; in fact, that is the last opportunity to prevent a dangerous incident. Terrorists must be stopped before they cross the border. The reasons behind their supporters’ backing must be identified and challenged. Nurseries for domestic terrorists need to be shut down, and their hideouts/ training centres totally dismantled. Supply of weapons and explosives must be controlled at the source. If a terrorist is captured at a checkpoint in the middle of a city, it indicates that the state has already failed; billions spent on intelligence and counterterrorism to stop these threats early have been wasted. They are already in the midst of hundreds of innocent citizens, and are ready to blow themselves up or have their handlers remotely trigger an attack.

At the Panni post, a distinguished-looking policeman has been a fixture for years. He carries himself gracefully, not just waving motorists with tinted windows to the side but also greeting familiar daily commuters. As someone who routinely idles at this post, it’s hard not to notice that every second or third driver with tinted glass either flash an ID or a document exempting them from the tinting ban, or calling someone on the phone who may be above the law. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of commoners without the sense to follow the ‘tinted-law’; the policemen dilige­ntly tear the panni off their windows, and as they do, the traffic snarl behind them grows bigger and meaner.

Every other driver with tinted glass flashes an ID.

Two questions from the cricket czar, who also oversees internal security: How many terrorists have been apprehended at the Panni post, and how many of them have been prosecuted and convicted? How much FDI results from the return of international cricket to the country, and are there any figures on revenue generation and the economic boost to cities hosting PSL matches?

While we are at it, it may not hurt to have him calculate and educate the public on the trade-offs between ferrying local VIPs by helicopter and by motorcade. Even without resorting to the ridiculously low numbers a PTI minister came up with when Imran Khan’s helicopter jaunts between the PM House and Banigala came under criticism, just calculating the fuel used by thousands of idling engines would show helicopter rides to be more economical. If, however, there is apprehension that the choppers could be targeted, those who provided the suspects with the wherewithal for such acts are responsible for their retrieval as well, but not at the Panni post. The writer is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled Rindana.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2025