Thanks to Erdogan, Lahore gets a colourful makeover

Lights, flowers, billboards fill the city on Turkish president’s visit

LAHORE: Lahore stepped up to receive Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday with lights, flowers and billboards put up all over the city depicting Pak-Turk friendship messages.

Erdogan was greeted with a warm reception on his arrival in Lahore with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif welcoming the Turkish president and his wife at the airport. Several provincial ministers and senior government officials accompanied the chief minister to welcome the visitors. Children wearing traditional attires presented bouquets to the Turkish guests.



The Punjab government hosted a dinner in honour of the Turkish president at Hazoori Bagh, where Erdogan inaugurated the historic Greater Iqbal Park and attended a cultural event organised by the Walled City of Lahore Authority.

All major city roads were decorated with red, green and white coloured lights and flowers to depict strong bonds of friendship between the two brotherly nations. Provincial and local administrations had installed huge billboards and banners along the VIP route with Erdogan’s portraits and greeting messages in Turkish and English languages.

Beefed up security

The city police and other law enforcement agencies had made foolproof security arrangements. All roads leading to the VIP route from Old Airport to Greater Iqbal Park were closed for traffic hours before Turkish president’s arrival.



At least 6,000 personnel were deployed to provide security to the visitors. Prior to Turkish delegation’s visit, law enforcement agencies cleared the whole area with the help of specially trained sniffer dogs and high-tech electronic gadgets.

Snipers were deployed on rooftops of buildings along the route to monitor any suspicious activity. Police officials in plain clothes were also deployed to keep vigilance.

Pakistan Army and Bomb Disposal Squad officials earlier cleared the route from Aziz Bhatti Road, Upper Mall Road, Lower Mall Road to Outer Circular Road and railway station.

The police also sealed Mall Road for around seven hours between 3pm and 10pm by putting up barriers and razor wires for security reasons.



Police had asked shop owners and houses along the VIP route to sign surety bonds committing they would cooperate with police during Turkish president’s visit and would not let any suspicious person stay with them.

Only guests and participants having invitation cards were allowed entry in Greater Iqbal Park after checking at three points with hand frisking, metal detectors and passing through walk-through gates. All vehicles were parked at the specified parking stand after thorough checking.

Traffic police deployed over 1,100 traffic wardens to maintain smooth traffic flow but gridlocks were observed on most roads. Chaos was witnessed on Canal Road, Jail Road and other arteries leading to the Mall Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2016.