VIPs & The Roads

By Amir Zia

The News

March 03, 2014 

 

Our ruling elite – has made high walls and they will raise them even higher in the days to come in the name of security, but won’t strive to create a society that can exist without them. The high and mighty ones import even better and costlier bulletproof and bombproof vehicles, but take no concrete step to eradicate this problem.  

 

President Mamoon Hussain wants to stay away from the roads of Karachi as much as possible in the larger public interest. The reason: he does not want Karachiites to suffer due to the mandatory security arrangements for the presidential cavalcade that results in blocked roads and massive traffic jams. Therefore, he usually takes a short helicopter ride from airport to the city centre. He declines invitations even from friends who want to throw a party in his honour, and comes out of the State Guest House only for vital official engagements. 

“A friend of mine complained that I have become arrogant as I do not visit his place anymore”, Hussain told a select group of journalists in a recent meeting in Karachi. “But when my friend himself got stuck in a traffic jam because of some VIP movement, he realised the wisdom of my decision”, Hussain said in a lighter tone. “He told me that it is better both for me and the public if I avoid roads.” 

Being a Karachiitie himself, President Hussain appears sensitive towards the ordeal of citizens whenever high and mighty government officials – known as VIPs in official jargon – move on the roads of this teeming megapolis or in fact any major city and town of Pakistan. Hussain’s conduct remains an exception, but it hardly makes a difference in the overall scheme of things.

In the normal world of these abnormal times, traffic always comes to a complete halt for top civil and military leaders when they are out on the roads. The lesser VIPs (depending on their seniority and clout) move in small and big cavalcades, bullying and terrorising ‘unimportant’ mortals through armed guards, hooters and the share speed and aggression of their vehicles. 

The passing reference to the problem of ‘VIP movement’ in the president’s lengthy talk, which covered many other issues, came to my mind when on Friday I saw one of Karachi’s most prominent police officer whizz by in his white bullet-proof four-wheel drive vehicle on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road.

There were at least six vehicles, or maybe a couple more, that followed him in top gear. Policemen dangling in the escort vehicles waved automatic guns in the air, signalling to motorists and pedestrians to clear the way for the officer, who himself was in the driving seat. That’s all one could grasp in the fleeting few seconds amidst the mad rush while standing on the footpath and struggling to cross the road. Such sights are now too common – an everyday experience in our metropolitan lives.

The cavalcades of grade two, three or four ‘VIPs’ – who are unable to get roads blocked when they move – brazenly harass motorists to clear the way for them. These so-called VIPs and their security bellow hooters as they want you to abruptly change lanes if they are behind your vehicle. They force you to jump the red light as they think it too risky to wait for the traffic signal to turn green. They point and wave the barrels of their automatic guns directly at you if your vehicle happens to be behind the ‘VIP’ convoy so that you dare not cross it.

Of course, all this is being done for the sake of legitimate security needs of these ‘very important people’ of Pakistan. They face a genuine threat (no pun intended) from all sorts of terrorists and criminals, allowed to run amok under their watchful eyes. Names of many military and police officials, politicians, bureaucrats – and even judges – come to mind, who were killed in bombings or hit-and-run attacks by terrorists across Pakistan.

Then we have those rich and powerful citizens who can’t get official security and move with their private security guards. You see them trying to ape the official security personnel as they too threaten, terrorise and harass the lesser beings on the roads. The legality or illegality of their conduct hardly matters. They can afford to hire guns and gunmen. These superrich too have a legitimate reason to flaunt 24/7 security. They do not want to be kidnapped for ransom, fall victim to the bullet of extortionists, car snatchers or street criminals.

Now state or private security is no longer just a matter of sheer egoism, but an actual need – for those who can afford it. Those who can’t, feel vulnerable. 

We live in abnormal and cruel times that have indeed brutalized the society and made everyone feel insecure – from the top to the proverbial man on the street. 

The only problem is that the common man has been caught in a two-way bind. He gets squeezed both by the law-breakers and the custodians of law. He can neither buy his own protection nor get it from the state. He can’t even maintain his self-respect while commuting on the road and walking on a footpath (if there are any left by encroachers for him to walk on).

Terrorism and crime have changed the way we once used to live and take for granted some very basic rights. For instance, finding a major road open cannot be taken for granted now. In the same way, there is no assurance that you will be allowed to walk on a footpath if it happens to be adjacent to the residence of any proclaimed or self-proclaimed VIP or any important official buildings.

In Karachi, the portion of Dr Ziauddin Road outside the Chief Minister House can be taken as a case in point. It can be closed for traffic without warning any time of the day or even for days at a stretch – depending on the security threat or whims of our masters. At nights, one always finds it closed to the public.

The same road also houses the headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers. Here, one of the footpaths and a traffic lane has been encroached upon for the security reasons. It is prohibited even to walk on the corner of this road. It is a small dare to take a stroll on the lane adjacent to the Rangers’ headquarters under the unfriendly stare of guards armed with G-3 rifles and heavy and light machine guns.

And there are scores of government and security institutions, including the Pakistan Coast Guards and the police, which have completely or partially closed various roads and footpaths for the general public because of the terror threat. Top politicians, ministers, civil servants too have encroached public spaces for security reasons.

What is now a normality of our daily lives is unarguably an abnormality, which no civilised society can tolerate. But being civilised and creating a civilised society is not even a point of discussion in our national narrative today, let alone any genuine push or agenda to change the way we live – and now die.

We have accepted and learned to live with whatever is around us and appear prepared to brace even the worst. It is all part of the package now, which is becoming weightier and pulling us down bit by bit, slowly and surely. 

Our ruling elite – has made high walls and they will raise them even higher in the days to come in the name of security, but won’t strive to create a society that can exist without them. The high and mighty ones import even better and costlier bulletproof and bombproof vehicles, but take no concrete step to eradicate this problem. They will close many more roads and footpaths for the general public, place more barricades and surround themselves with many more security personnel, but will not address the root cause of any of the problems and continue trying to appease and wheel and deal with the violent non-state actors and law-breakers. 

They will not do anything to end this disorder and lawlessness, which has created a society where citizens are even denied the right to drive peacefully or even walk without being threatened and bullied by guards and terrorists and criminals alike. Can one see any glimmer of hope? If so, please do share. Let’s all search for it.