Traffic cops protest suspension in Karachi's Garden area

Officers were suspended for failing to stop movement of heavy vehicles in city between 6am and 11pm

KARACHI: A number of traffic police officials protested their forced expulsion from their offices on Monday at Traffic DIG Asif Ejaz Shaikh's office in Garden East.

According to Karachi Traffic Police Spokesperson Saeed Arian, the suspended officials were those who failed to comply with the Supreme Court's [SC] order to bar the movement of heavy vehicles in certain areas during the day.

The suspended officers were from the Liaquatabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Model Town traffic sections.

Due to the protest, roads leading to MA Jinnah Road and Garden were completely blocked and traffic came to a standstill. However, when DIG Shaikh was contacted by The Express Tribune, he said that no road was blocked and traffic flowed smoothly during the protest.



"Only a few protestors gathered," he claimed, adding that no such suspended traffic police officer will be reinstated, as they failed to comply with the SC's order. "Reinstating those officers will mean allowing the movement of heavy vehicles in the city and letting people die because of it," he said, adding that only the IG can reinstate the officers now. The DIG said he had told the protesters this and asked them contact the IG.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Karachi traffic police chief and provincial transport secretary in March to stop heavy vehicles from plying Karachi's roads between 6am and 11pm.

The order came on a petition filed by Faisal Bengali and others against the movement of heavy vehicles on the city's roads and through residential areas during the day.



The petitioners said they were permanent residents of the city and were distressed because of the prevailing situation of traffic that was deteriorating with every passing day.

The petitioners' counsel, Muhammad Abdur Rehman, said the SC had directed the traffic police chief in August 2007 to immediately stop entry of heavy vehicles in the city during daytime and regulate such flow of traffic only between 11pm and 6am.