DHA’s orders: Mardan House only residence to remove roadblocks

Zulfiqar Mirza, Fehmida Mirza, Qaim Ali Shah, Shahid Bhutto on housing authority’s list.

KARACHI:

Roadblocks need to be removed from around a handful of houses in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) whose deadline is up. So far, Mardan House of the Awami National Party has followed orders.

The other houses where roadblocks exist belong to Zulfiqar Mirza in Phase V, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza off Khayaban-e-Shaheen, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah off Khayaban-e-Mujahid and Pakistan People’s Party leader Shahid Bhutto.

DHA issued instructions to residents on October 22, asking them to clear the roads within a week among other measures. But it was not the first. “Numerous warnings were issued to these people,” said a senior DHA Vigilance officer who requested anonymity to avoid political pressure. “Now we have asked the police to do something about it. But DHA won’t desist. Otherwise, it will set a bad precedent.”

Senior police officials have been asked to find a way to clear the roads in front of these houses without upsetting the ‘powerful’ people, he said. One particular exception to these rules may be the Khayaban-e-Hafiz intersection by the Saudi consulate. A portion was closed off for traffic on the orders of the federal interior minister after a hand grenade attack and the murder of a diplomat a few lanes away. SSP Naeem Shaikh said that this road would remain closed as long as there is a security threat for the consulate. “I can’t say when that threat will subside.”

DHA has found itself in the spotlight over the past year after a string of unsavoury incidents including high-profile murders, a suicide bomber’s attack and rape case. It has reacted by calibrating its security rules. For example, it said that weapons cannot be openly displayed. Political parties were told to shut their offices in residential areas. “With the help of the Rangers, we sealed the offices of two political parties in Badar Commercial area,” said the officer. “Its activists had started taking extortion.”

DHA has also pinpointed around 300 houses with makeshift tents outside for security guards. “Judges, politicians and senior bureaucrats are creating every conceivable problem for us,” the vigilance officer said. “People are obsessed with private security. Let us handle the security along with the police and rangers.”

But high-profile people were not the only ones targeted. Three places with sex workers in Badar Commercial area and another one in Phase II are facing the axe, a senior DHA official said. “Soon after Eid, we intend to crack down on these places.”

He acknowledged, however, that there was no way to stop the business completely. “It has happened before as well. We close it at one spot, and another one opens up in some other area.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2011.