‘Red Zone’: Police checks drive customers away from Do Darya

Restaurant owners claim the number of customers has dropped by 50% since the last week.

KARACHI: The popular food street in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) phase VIII, Do Darya, almost wears a deserted look as citizens are having a hard time reaching the site due to the stringent security checks along the way.

Meanwhile, the personnel deployed at the two main routes leading to Do Darya since the last week hardly seem to know what they are supposed to be looking for. They claim to be simply following orders of the high-ranking officials. “We have orders to check every single vehicle coming through on the routes leading towards Do Darya,” said Darakshan Police SHO Zawwar Hussain. He, however, admitted that they had not found anything suspicious from any of the vehicles during the last week.



The move by the police has deterred even frequent visitors from heading towards the popular food street. “We are all for good security measures but the checking being done by the police is becoming a nuisance for our customers. It takes them an hour to reach the restaurants from the check posts and families do not appreciate being asked to step out of their vehicles to be checked,” explained Abdul Samad, the owner of Mirage Restaurant, while speaking to The Express Tribune. Samad, as well as the other restaurant owners believe that the move was meant to harass their customers and discourage them from making their way to the restaurants. “There are personnel around five police stations, including Clifton, Gizri, Preedy Street, Arambagh and Darakshan, deployed at the site. The number of visitors to our restaurants has dropped by over 50 per cent in the last one week alone,” he reported. Samad went on to claim that the move was another ploy by the DHA to force the restaurants to evacuate the site.

A frequent visitor to the food street, Abdul Razzaq, echoed Samad’s stance. “I have stopped going there recently as the police would stop our car and ask all my family to step out to be searched. It used to be a good place for a family outing but the police have turned it into a red zone now,” he complained.

“We have stopped going to those restaurants as the police stops my car and asks to step out for checking each and every family member, it was a good place to visit with family but now it has transformed into a red zone area,” said Asif Razzaq a frequent visitor.

When contacted, the Clifton SP Muhammad Nadeem expressed ignorance about the stricter security measures, saying that he would inquire into the incident and try to facilitate the citizens. SHO Zawwar, on the other hand, appealed to citizens to be patient with the police as they were just doing their jobs.

“The traffic towards the restaurants may have decreased due to the security checks but I would like to reassure you that this is a regular check post, much like the others around the city,” he said. “We are just checking the cars and letting them go.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.