They have constructed bunkers and placed concrete blocks to close portions of the said roads to all sorts of traffic.
The moves are in violation of a Lahore High Court (LHC) directive issued in July 2009.
Last year, the LHC took suo motu notice of the roadblocks and barriers set up in the name of security for the police high ups. The notice was taken after some roads, including the Outfall Road, Queens Road, Bank Road and Church Road, were closed to all traffic. The IG and the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) were directed to ensure that all such barriers were removed.
Aside from the SSP’s office, the Outfall Road also houses two educational institutes, Government Islamia College Civil Lines and the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), and district courts and the Revenue Department buildings.
There are severe traffic jams in the morning and from 12pm to 3pm. The road already lacked capacity for a large volume of traffic during the peak hours and with one side closed for traffic, the conditions have become worse.
Atif Mirza, a motorist, said that since he had to take the said road to his office, he has to waste half an hour every morning to pass through the small patch around the SSP (Operations) office.
“The city is at risk but that does not mean that the law enforcement agencies start encroaching upon public facilities for their own protection,” Mirza said. “What are they doing to protect the citizens?” he asked
Qadeer Masood, a member of the Lahore Bar Association, who has to take the route everyday to attend hearings at the district courts, said that the traffic is almost always jammed and no matter how early he leaves home, he can never make it to the court in time. He said that the court schedules had got upset ever since the blockade started last year.
Muhammad Aslam Tareen, the CCPO, said that the said roads were only partially blocked, “which in no way violate the LHC’s last year directive”. He admitted that it creates some problems for the traffic but insisted that it was necessary in order to ward off a possible terrorist attack. He added that the police keep getting information about possible acts of terrorism and the barriers were set up as a preventive measure.
The police encroached upon the Outfall Road gradually. In January 2009, it started setting up barriers to block the lane on which the SSP’s (Operations) office was located.
In July 2009, the police erected a five-foot high wall on the road divider and in January 2010, it started work on constructing bunkers.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2010.
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