Self-help: Dismayed transporters to take security into own hands

The transporters’ association has decided to form a private security company to secure their lives and property.


Sohail Khattak September 02, 2013
This file photo of the Quaid-e-Azam International Truck Stand at Mauripur Road shows trucks at a standstill at the stand as good carriers went on a strike to protest against extortion and targeted killings in the city.

KARACHI:


Disappointed by the failure of law enforcement agencies to control the law and order situation, goods transporters of the city have decided to make their own arrangements and stop relying on the police and Rangers to defend them from criminals.


Karachi Goods Carriers Association (KGCA), the country’s largest union of truck owners, will hire 100 private security guards and install Closed-Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) at the Quaid-e-Azam International Truck Stand located on Hawke’s Bay Road in Mauripur, the association decided at its annual meeting. The stand is spread over 200 acres and has six main gates on which the security guards will be deployed. Meanwhile, the CCTV cameras will be installed at 60 different locations in the stand.

“We have reached the point where looking at the law enforcement agencies for security is no longer a viable option - our vehicles and drivers are kidnapped almost everyday from inside the city,” said KGCA leader Fazal Manan Jadoon. “Our lives are in danger and our vehicles, worth Rs10 million each, are stolen and sold in parts. Hence, we have decided to arrange our own security.”

According to Jadoon, at least one of their trucks along with the driver is kidnapped every day inside the city. “The cargo from the truck is stolen and the drivers are beaten and dumped somewhere.” The association decided to form its own security company to solve the issue once and for all, although their guards will only be stationed at the stand. For trucks leaving the stand, the association has no other option but to rely on highway police.

Meanwhile, police officials claimed that they are protecting the transporters. “This is not a failure of the police,” DSP Niaz Ali Chandio told The Express Tribune. “This is, however, their right to protect themselves by installing CCTV cameras.”

Since Ramazan, only two crime-related incidents occurred with the transporters in the area and the police arrested the men behind both those cases. A few incidents did occur in other parts of the city, he said.

Revenue generation

“Over 3,000 transporters work in the stand so we can arrange Rs3 million a month if we collect Rs1,000 from each vendor,” he said. “We will seek the services of retired army officers to build our own security company and will register it with the relevant government department.” Jadoon, who is also the chairperson of the law and order committee of the KGCA, believed that hiring private security guards could minimise the risk to their lives and save the millions of rupees their members are paying as extortion money.

From street thugs and militants to the main political forces in the city, extortion has become a flourishing enterprise for many. Every shop owner in the old Mauripur neighbourhood pays up to Rs3,000 extortion money to criminals. “We are sick of the fear of being attacked and the calls for extortion money,” said Sher Khan, a driver who has been in the transport business for the last 15 years. “The police back these hooligans and just complete formalities when called in for help,” he added.

Khan recalled the bargaining that goes on when extortion demands are made. “They [extortionists] first ask you to buy a Kalashnikov for them which costs around Rs150,000,” he explained. “If you can’t afford that, then they come down to a pistol.” The deal is finalised with cash for no less than Rs 40,000. This is, unfortunately, a routine activity for the transporters at Mauripur.

KGCA general secretary Mohammad Shoaib Khan told The Express Tribune that extortion cases have increased over the last four months and at least two of their watchmen had been killed in the same period. “We are not safe at our bus stands and the law enforcement agencies are doing nothing - this is completely unfair and intolerable,” said Khan, adding that everyone in the city knows who are behind the extortion racket. “We have no other way except to hire our own security.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2013.

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