Two male adults should not be allowed to ride on a motorbike together
RAWALPINDI: The serpent of targeted killing has risen its deadly head once again, this time claiming the renowned qawwal Amjad Sabri as its latest victim. The killers, who were on two motorbikes, made their escape and it would be very difficult to track them down. It is a well-known phenomenon that 99.9 per cent of all such targeted killings are done by killers on motorbikes. There are always two of them riding together — one doing the shooting and the other driving the bike. Since a motorbike is a small, handy and easy to manoeuvre vehicle, the killers weave their way through heavy traffic and vanish into nearby alleys easily.
One wonders as to why such a simple fact is not being understood by the law-enforcement agencies and why pillion riding is not banned in cities where required. I know it would be hard on many but we could ease it to some extent. For example, children under 12 and ladies without veils could be exempted from such a ban. Two male adults should not be allowed to ride on a motorbike together. As I said, this will cause inconvenience to many and there will be an uproar over this move from commuters. However, one has to take the bitter pill to eradicate the bigger menace.
During pre-Partition times and even the early days of Pakistan, ‘doubling’ on a bicycle was an offence and its implementation was strictly enforced. No one raised any objection to this. So, my dear law-enforcement whiz kids, please ban pillion riding and save many a family from ruination. You ban it anyway on certain religious occasions then why not do it for good? Life is much more precious and important than the pillion riding convenience afforded to a few. The safety of citizens is much more important and with time, families can figure out new means of traveling together as opposed to pillion riding. Is anyone in the corridors of power listening?
Colonel (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2016.
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