Traffic police scoff at move to provide them weapons

Claim the provision of one weapon for a whole section is a mockery

KARACHI:

The traffic police of Karachi have been armed with submachine guns and bulletproof jackets in the wake of the targeted killings of two traffic police officials on Sunday night.

Not all the traffic police officials seem happy or feel secure with the decision though. Head constable of one of the police sections in Gulistan-e-Jauhar told The Express Tribune that his section has been provided with only one very rusty pistol with just two bullets. “I am not even sure that if I press the trigger, the bullet would come out or not,” he said miserably. “With one pistol and two bullets in it, how can my police constables feel secure,” he frowned.

An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the same traffic section said that the deceased police officers were his friends. “It’s not easy to concentrate on the job when your colleagues are being gunned down,” he said. “It affects our morale.” According to him, providing the traffic police sections with one pistol is more like making a mockery of the institution.

Pointing at his torn shoes, he said that the institution couldn’t provide him shoes to wear since the last three years. “Even the khaki I am wearing has been weaved by my wife,” he said, adding that who cared about one pistol they had been provided for the security of the whole section. A traffic police section is the jurisdiction of a particular chowki.

South Zone

The situation is different in South Zone. Defence Chowki section officer, Fahmida Abbasi told The Express Tribune that she has been provided with 14 pistols, three sub-machine guns and 10 bulletproof jackets. At every point according to her, four traffic police personnel manage the traffic. One stands with an SMG gun to guards the others.  She said that there were 22 ASIs and 14 pistols were distributed among them. “ASIs work shift-wise, so it isn’t difficult to distribute the pistols during duty hours,” she said.

The traffic DIG, Amir Ahmed Shaikh and Additional IG Khadim Hussain Bhatti did not respond to the repeated calls on the issue.

Action against Qingqis

A traffic police official said that the traffic police’s rapid action against Qingqis has become the cause of target killings of the traffic police. “Terrorists used to use these Qingqis for spying and other terrorist activities,” the official said.

Meanwhile, The Supreme Court (SC) reprimanded the provincial authorities on Wednesday for banning the plying of three-wheeler Qingqi rickshaws in Sindh without providing the commuters with alternative means of transportation. The bench directed the transport secretary to make recommendations on the issue after consulting the relevant departments and the Qingqi rickshaw operators.

Under attack again: Traffic police official shot dead, two injured

Hardly a few hours after the notification for the provision of arms and ammunition to traffic police officials was issued by the Sindh government, three wardens were attacked in Gulbai Chowki in Shershah locality. The officials were on duty when they were attacked. One of them died on the spot while the other two were shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi, for treatment. The deceased was identified as Liaquat Ali and the injured as Naveed and Khursheed Muhammad.

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