Blockade on roads leading to Bilawal House prevent patients from reaching three hospitals

Traffic police insist they have created an alternative route for every diversion.

KARACHI: The roads leading up to Bilawal House have been blocked by containers and buses preventing people from accessing three major hospitals in the area.

Similar to the long queues outside fuel stations, several cars were lined up in front of Jahangir Kothari Parade on Monday while a bunch of traffic policemen scanned the queue for only the important people. The restricted access to the roads leading to the president’s abode in the city is a usual feature whenever he visits town, but the blockage since Friday has irked the residents the most.

Several containers and trucks have been parked on the roads at the three major thoroughfares that lead to Bilawal House, making the area accessible to only those on foot. “It is just to provide ultimate security to the Pakistan People’s Party leadership,” complained Hassam Khan, who runs a business near Bilawal Chowrangi.

Meanwhile, those intending to visit South City Hospital, Ziauddin Hospital and Aga Khan Clifton centre have to take much longer alternative routes to bypass the security zone. “The situation is getting worse as this blockade is hindering easy access to hospitals and schools,” pointed out Ali Charania, a resident. The doctors were, however, allowed to pass through but only once they proved through an ID card that they worked at one of these facilities.



Apart from the residents, those who came to the area for work and even rickshaw and bus drivers were annoyed by the road blocks. “I roamed around Bilawal Chowrangi for half an hour but I couldn’t find a way to reach my religious place,” said Sohail Lakhani.

People waiting in long queues for the road to clear were finding it difficult to control their nerves under the scorching heat. “Our politicians act like feudal lords,” said Hussain Assani, a student visiting Karachi. “This Clifton green-zone is suffering the most.” Amna, another resident, complained that it was not the politicians but the people waiting in the queues who owned these roads.

Meanwhile, those who take this route for their work are in for an unpleasant surprise every time the road is blocked. “I dread passing Bilawal Chowrangi every day before work,” admitted Yumna Rafi, a resident. “I wish I could shift from this area altogether.” She pointed out that the roads are blocked every other say for ‘security’. “The politicians here disrupt our peace for their own protection.”

The residents, who were already suffering from a shortage of water, complained that the blockade added to their miseries. “No water tanker could go through the blockade,” pointed out Ovais Jafar, a resident.

For his part, a traffic police officer at the Clifton branch, Hayat, denied the blockade was causing any hassle. “Alternative routes have been provided beforehand,” he said. Despite repeated attempts to reach them, Traffic Police DIG Khaliq Shaikh and Bilawal House spokesperson Ejaz Durrani were unavailable for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2013.