Traffic police not blocking roads for VIPs, says DIG

Security agencies are responsible for roadblocks during movement of VVIPs

KARACHI: Karachi traffic police DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday that his force was not responsible for blocking roads during movements of the VIPs and VVIPs.

Filing his comments before a two-judge bench during hearing of petitions against the VIP protocols, the DIG said that traffic police only supports security agencies in case of VIP or VVIP movement. He added that the traffic police cannot open or close the routes without their directions.



Following the death of a minor girl, Bisma, due to the protocol of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, rights groups had approached the court, pleading to end protocols that are enjoyed by high-profile politicians, officials or dignitaries. “The death of Bisma is no doubt an irreparable loss,” said the DIG. However, he added, the Karachi traffic police is not responsible for the tragic incident as the girl’s father was not stopped by the traffic police from entering the trauma centre of the Civil Hospital, Karachi.

Drawing a comparison of the city, he maintained that Karachi is the seventh largest city in the world and second largest in the Muslim world. Shaikh argued that the number of registered vehicles in Karachi is 3.8 million, with an increase of 900 vehicles per day. He said that there is no urban plan for accommodating such a huge number of vehicles plying on the roads of Karachi. The traffic police are making strenuous efforts to ease traffic problems due to overcrowding on roads, even though there is an acute shortage of manpower and other resources of communication, claimed the DIG.



Shaikh contended that as far as closure of roads because of VIP culture is concerned, the traffic police have never closed roads for protocols. However, he added, keeping in view the prevailing situation of security in the country, the traffic police, in case of VIP/VVIP movement, supports security agencies as and when required by them. Furthermore, the traffic police arrange alternative routes to facilitate the public so that their movement may not be disturbed and they can easily travel to their destinations, added the DIG.

Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who headed the bench, took the DIG’s report on record and directed the petitioner’s lawyer to file a counter-affidavit, if any, by the next date of hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2016.