Running out of fuel

KARACHI: On April 28, at around 7:30 pm I was passing by Clifton bridge and I ran out of petrol. I parked by the road side and began walking to the PSO petrol pump – literally a two-minute walk away – to fetch some petrol. My 10-year-old daughter was with me.

Within 10 minutes I was back but what do I see as we were nearing the spot where I had left the car — the car was about to be towed. The traffic constable was screaming at me for parking the car there and I tried to explain to him that it had run out of fuel but to no avail. Eventually the car was towed — and me and my daughter had to walk all the way to the Frere Police station to retrieve it.

I was asked to pay a hundred rupees and another five hundred for the lifting charge! The irony in all this is that a large chunk of the police station was built on encroached land. Now who is going to hold the police accountable for that?