Public access: ‘Roads blocked to protect dignitaries, law enforcement offices’

SHC had called for comments on petition complaining of ‘illegal’ blockades across city.

KARACHI: Several public arteries have been blocked for public to protect the offices of law enforcement agencies offices, foreigners and the high-profile personalities, such as President Mamnoon Hussain and former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

Karachi commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui submitted this before a division bench of the Sindh High Court, as he explained the closure of various public roads in the city. The bench, headed by justice Nadeem Akhtar, was hearing the plea of civil rights campaigner Rana Faizul Hasan seeking removal of unauthorised barriers on roads.

The commissioner explained that Khayaban-e-Tauheed in DHA has been blocked for Musharraf’s security and only residents are given access. He added that five streets leading to the residence of President Hussain in Badar Commercial, DHA, have also been closed.



A street on the front side of Sharae Iran is also blocked for public with cemented barricades for the protection of the British Consulate, he said, adding that a road in DHA Phase II is also closed to ensure security to an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence, where only the staff vehicles are permitted entry. The DHA management has also blocked several streets in Phase I, he pointed out.

Siddiqui pleaded the judges allow him more time to include the names of other public roads that are blocked for public and submit them in court. The bench allowed the request the adjourned the hearing to March 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.