Too secure for comfort, people unable to access assembly building

Heavy contingent of police deployed, portion of Court Road blocked without alternate routes and parking.

KARACHI: The government blocked a portion of Court Road for traffic by placing heavy containers on both sides of the road in an attempt to make the Sindh Assembly building and other provincial government departments more secure.

Following a security plan meeting on Monday, heavy contingents of police were deployed on the road.

Most of them were alert on the first day of the job and were checking government employees and visitors before allowing them to access the road. However, the decision to block the road comes without prior public announcements or alternate arrangements for traffic and vehicle parking.

This area houses the Sindh High Court, Sindh Assembly, Sindh Secretariat, Tughlaq House, New Sindh secretariat, regional tax office and other government departments and offices.

Waheed Ahmed Soomro, who came from Larakana to meet law minister Ayaz Soomro, said such an obstacle was unheard of. He said the security staff did not allow him to enter the assembly building.

“I’ve come here many times and have almost always managed to meet Ayaz Soomro,” he complained. This is the first time that he was stopped, he said.

There were several other annoyed and confused people who were standing at the main gate of the assembly building.

After several security threats were made, a reception office was reopened at the main gate on the directives of the speaker of assembly. Every visitor has to get permission from this office before they can enter the premises.

Ali Raza Baloch, waiting at one side of the blocked road, said that he was a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and had came here from Lyari to meet Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro. However, he was also stopped by the police and told that he could not go onto the road.

If people are unable to meet their elected representatives in the name of ‘security measures’, then their problems will continue to pile up, said Baloch. People should have the liberty to talk to assembly members and share their grievances.

Direct access was not the only problem. Blocking the road also meant that people had to park their vehicles quite far from the buildings where they planned to go. Ali Murtaza Jatoi, who had come from Naudero, said that he had urgent work in the office of the technical education department, but he was worried about parking his car. Similarly, Nadeem Magnejo from Dadu, who had come to meet education minister Pir Mazharul Haq was also wondering where he should park his car.

Qurban Ali Samon, Waseem Jokhio, Ali Nawaz Solangi and other residents said that the government should come up with ways to cope with the threat of terrorism without closing down roads and disturbing the general public.

Blocking a section of Court Road from Pigeon Chowrangi to Court View Apartments also caused traffic jams in the surrounding arteries.

On Monday, a meeting was also held with Khuhro in chair to devise a security plan for the city. Government officials denied that the assembly had received direct threats and said that the meeting was part of a general security plan, which was devised a year ago.

Security measures include a biometric system that will be installed around important buildings and will help identify people through their fingerprints. Additional CCTV cameras will also be set up and the height of boundary walls will be raised.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2010.