KARACHI, July 6: Police on Tuesday closed several roads and thoroughfares for vehicular traffic, causing nuisance to motorists and people travelling by public transport, who got stuck in traffic jams.
Police closed Hoshang Chowk and diverted the traffic to Dr Ziauddin Ahmed and Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan roads. The Club Road was also closed for some time, but was later opened for traffic. The exercise to close and open roads continued with intervals.
The police carried out the road closures, besides increasing its deployment at the US consulate, British Deputy High Commission and other foreign missions, in the wake of a security threat received in Islamabad, officials said.
The City police chief, Tariq Jamil, said: "We have closed different roads and beefed up security in connection with the threat, received in Islamabad." The intermittent road closures were carried out by the law enforcers randomly, as a part of the enhanced security measures taken for safeguarding the consulates and foreign missions in the city, he added.
However, the unannounced increased security measures taken by the police, inconvenienced the citizens a lot, who were caught unaware in the deluge of traffic as soon as the police blocked Hoshang Chowk and the Clifton Bridge. The entire traffic, approaching Hoshang Chowk, was either diverted to the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road through Clifton flyover, or to the Cantonment Road.
Due to the closure of the chowk, the traffic got jammed in Clifton and ultimately on the Dr Ziauddina Ahmed and the Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan roads.
Similarly, the traffic approaching the Clifton Bridge from Metropole Hotel was also blocked, which caused severe jams on the Abdullah Haroon Road, Zaibunnisa Street, and other link roads.The police also blocked the access of traffic to the Club Road, which aggravated the situation.
As the road-closing exercise was started in the evening, during the peak hours, the impact of the traffic jams was felt on Sharea Faisal, up to the M A Jinnah Road.
The commuters, travelling by public transport, were faced with trouble, including women and children, who remained disturbed during the jams in the humid weather, besides the motorists, who remained stranded for hours in the traffic mess.
The ambulances carrying patients to different hospitals were among the worst-hit. The patients, being carried to the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, and the National Institute of Child Health, had to face great trouble in reaching these hospitals due to congested roads.
Although the roads were opened with intervals, the traffic took hours to get normal. The electronic traffic signals were switched of and the traffic was regulated manually at many intersections.
The Fatima Jinnah Road had been completely closed since the two car-bombs exploded near the US consul general's residence in front of the PACC. One of the irate commuters told Dawn that the bus he was travelling in got struck up in a jam and it took him half an hour to reach Lucky Star bus stop from the Hotel Regent Plaza.