I understand that to protect Islamabad from any potential threat is the government’s responsibility, but at what cost
Mornings have become a torture for road-users entering Islamabad. People coming from Rawalpindi and the suburbs to seek employment, education, healthcare and other important tasks have to face this agonising situation. This scene is created daily by the security agencies, namely, the Islamabad Police, the traffic police, other security personnel, and at times, special squads stationed at main points, like the Faizabad turning to the Islamabad highway, the Kashmir highway, just before the Best Western hotel, and then in front of the Convention Centre opposite Serena Hotel.
Do we even have the right to question and raise our voices against the pickets that have been established and the exact purpose these are serving for the esteemed ministry of interior? Putting people into these early morning chaotic traffic jams has serious implications; many cannot reach their offices on time, students miss their classes, patients en route to hospitals suffer in the ambulances or their cars, and people are unable to attend important meetings and deadlines.
I understand that to protect Islamabad from any potential threat is the government’s responsibility, but at what cost and with what mechanism is this being achieved? What are the security forces intercepting by creating these bottlenecks? It is worth watching these security officials at these pickets, how attentive they are and what exactly they are up to: stopping vehicles with number plates of other provinces and asking for chai-paani. Would any authority take notice of this state of affairs?
Dr Babar Tasneem Shaikh
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2014.
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