Away with the barriers

The barriers that have been erected over the years across roads and other thoroughfares in Karachi, especially those by political parties, are more to do with being an expression of political ego than security. They have massively inconvenienced countless thousands of people every day. It is, therefore, welcome that the operation by Rangers in the city has produced consequences beyond its immediate objective, the removal of barriers being but one. Now one of the most prominent of the barriers, those outside Bilawal House that had been in place since 2008, have been removed. The residents of Clifton will be able to commute freely between Boat Basin and Sea View and it is to be hoped that all the vast majority of others will follow.

The PPP had fought a rearguard action against the Rangers requirement that the barriers be dismantled, and had written to the DG Rangers seeking an exemption from the order on the grounds of ‘security’. Presumably, somebody in the PPP read the public mood and the party has announced that it will take down the barriers of its own accord, self-righteously saying that it would do so despite the “threats to security” that would arise from so doing. What is not yet clear is whether the walls that have been built on the main road will come down, a decision that appears to lie with the Sindh government. That politicians face threats to their security is undeniable and we have no desire to see them any more at risk than they already are, but these barriers went beyond ‘security’ and were part of a political footprint, the machismo that goes with political power in Pakistan. By all means provide protection for politicians (and others who are vulnerable) but not at the expense of a degradation in the quality of life for lesser mortals. There are some physical barriers that are necessary for the protection of those who live and work behind them, but they should not intrude into public space. At least as far as illegal barriers go, the culture of impunity appears over — for now.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd,  2015.

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