I have travelled in and out of city by road on several occasions, the checkposts one finds are there only in name.
NEW YORK: This is with reference to Ahmer Ashraf’s article of September 22 titled “Waking up to the blast”. The writer has posed some very valid questions which all citizens of Karachi should be asking the city administration and police authorities — and demanding answers.
The first issue is that the police’s intelligence-gathering ability needs to be improved on a massive scale. Furthermore, their ability and capacity to properly utilise the intelligence that is collected needs to be augmented. Both these point are crucial to preventing further such attacks, and not just in Karachi but all over the country. The second question that should be asked is that how did a car with such a heavy load of explosives manage to make it to the police official’s house. Why wasn’t it stopped on the way, since Khayaban-e-Ittehad and the main Seaview Road usually have police checkposts?
I have travelled in and out of the city by road on several occasions and the checkposts that one finds are there only in name — as in they conduct little by way of actually checking.
Several policemen also died in the attack. In general the police forces needs to be better equipped and trained, and taught more efficient and practical crime-fighting techniques and strategies. Above all, we need to give our police force some respect, so that those who serve in it realise that the society they serve values them.
Shaharyar Nashat
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.
