Privilege or threat: Driving a breeze as checkpoints remain vacant
Police shifted to Qadri’s sit-in venue, capital’s citizens vulnerable.
The police pickets in the capital remained unmanned until Wednesday night. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Residents of the federal capital have become used to traffic jams and security checks at police check posts, but all that has changed for the past two days.
With the Islamabad police focusing all its energy on Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in near D-Chowk, where around 5,000 local police personnel have been deployed, most of the police check posts around the city have been deserted.
Even some of the main entry points to the city were unguarded. “I drove across Faizabad twice today,” said Muhammad Tanveer, a taxi driver from Islamabad. “There were no police deployed at the check posts.”
The Kashmir Chowk post also did not have any police presence. Traffic through these points is usually scrutinised to guard against any security threats.
There are 75 check posts in the capital, an Islamabad Police spokesperson said. The posts are usually guarded by two officers each on regular days.
Tanveer said he did not notice any police on the pickets inside the city either. On Wednesday morning, the four police pickets on Kashmir Highway between 7th Avenue and Sector G-10 were deserted. Two of these posts are at exits towards sectors G-9 and G-10.
Some of the road blocks at the G-9 post, which are used to impede traffic flow, had also been removed, as if to facilitate motorists.
Ahmed Shakil, a resident of G-9/1, did not mind the lack of police cover at the posts.
“It feels odd because we have had to drive through the road blocks for so long,” said Shakil, who is a private school teacher. “But driving without useless interruptions at the check posts has been a relief.”
The Jinnah Avenue check post was removed to make way for the Minhajul Quran International (MQI) sit-in.
Around Wednesday evening, a couple of police officers appeared at the check post on the Kashmir Highway to the west of the Zero Point Interchange. One of the two, who seemed least interested in inspecting incoming traffic, said, “Most of the duty officers who are normally deployed at the posts have been deputed at D-Chowk.”
There, the police are stationed behind containers which block entry to the Constitutional Avenue and the Red Zone.
Senior Islamabad Police officials such as the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Yasin Farooq and Inspector General Bani Amin were unavailable for comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2013.
Residents of the federal capital have become used to traffic jams and security checks at police check posts, but all that has changed for the past two days.
With the Islamabad police focusing all its energy on Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in near D-Chowk, where around 5,000 local police personnel have been deployed, most of the police check posts around the city have been deserted.
Even some of the main entry points to the city were unguarded. “I drove across Faizabad twice today,” said Muhammad Tanveer, a taxi driver from Islamabad. “There were no police deployed at the check posts.”
The Kashmir Chowk post also did not have any police presence. Traffic through these points is usually scrutinised to guard against any security threats.
There are 75 check posts in the capital, an Islamabad Police spokesperson said. The posts are usually guarded by two officers each on regular days.
Tanveer said he did not notice any police on the pickets inside the city either. On Wednesday morning, the four police pickets on Kashmir Highway between 7th Avenue and Sector G-10 were deserted. Two of these posts are at exits towards sectors G-9 and G-10.
Some of the road blocks at the G-9 post, which are used to impede traffic flow, had also been removed, as if to facilitate motorists.
Ahmed Shakil, a resident of G-9/1, did not mind the lack of police cover at the posts.
“It feels odd because we have had to drive through the road blocks for so long,” said Shakil, who is a private school teacher. “But driving without useless interruptions at the check posts has been a relief.”
The Jinnah Avenue check post was removed to make way for the Minhajul Quran International (MQI) sit-in.
Around Wednesday evening, a couple of police officers appeared at the check post on the Kashmir Highway to the west of the Zero Point Interchange. One of the two, who seemed least interested in inspecting incoming traffic, said, “Most of the duty officers who are normally deployed at the posts have been deputed at D-Chowk.”
There, the police are stationed behind containers which block entry to the Constitutional Avenue and the Red Zone.
Senior Islamabad Police officials such as the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Yasin Farooq and Inspector General Bani Amin were unavailable for comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2013.