Barriers outside Bilawal House removed — finally

Karachi
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s anti-encroachment cell began lifting heavy containers and removing barriers parked outside the Bilawal House late on Tuesday night.
A day earlier, former president and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had issued orders to remove them to comply with the directives of DG Rangers Major-General Bilal Akbar.
In a statement issued on March 20, the chief of paramilitary force in Sindh had given three days to all residents of Karachi to remove any street barriers or blockades placed on their own prerogative.
Otherwise, he had warned, action will be taken to remove the unnecessary physical restrictions.
The barricades placed outside the Bilawal House had blocked a lane of Khyaban-e-Saadi in Clifton Block 3.
The Sindh government had written to Rangers officials not to remove the barriers outside the residence of former president Asif Ali Zardari and General Pervez Musharraf. However, the paramilitary force had still partially removed a few barriers outside the house of General Musharraf.
Subsequently on Tuesday, the PPP co-chairman on Tuesday issued orders to remove the barriers outside his residence and the necessary directives were issued to the chief minister in this regard, PPP vice president Sherry Rehman said.
“The residence has been under threats from militants for a long time but the former president decided to set an example,” she said.
Meanwhile, the personnel of KMC’s anti-encroachment cell who were involved in removing barriers said they received full cooperation from the staff of Bilawal House.
One of the KMC officials told The News that containers and the top halves of barriers were lifted easily but uprooting the stands built in the road took a lot of time.
He said that besides Bilawal House, the KMC’s anti-encroachment cell had also removed road blockages in areas of New Karachi, North Karachi, Surjani, Federal B Area, Nazimabad and Gulberg.
“We have observed that 95 percent of the barriers were already removed by residents themselves,” he said. “We cleared the remaining ones.”
He said the anti-encroachment staff will revisit the areas they cleared to check if the blockades hadn’t been replaced and then take action if required.
After a great deal of controversy, former president and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari finally issued instructions on Tuesday for the removal of the barriers in front of the Bilawal House - his high-security residence as well as the party’s headquarters in the city.
In a statement issued by the Bilawal House, the party said it was removing the barriers on the instructions of Asif Ali Zardari despite security threats.
The barriers in the surroundings of the Bilawal House obstruct one of the lanes of Khayaban-e-Saadi in Clifton Block 3. Besides, the partial or complete blockade of nearby lanes also causes problems for the residents.
Earlier, an entire portion of Khyaban-e-Saadi intersecting the Bilawal House was inaccessible because of the barriers.
On March 20, Sindh Rangers director general Major General Bilal Akbar had issued a three-day ultimatum for the removal of barriers and barricades across the city.
When the deadline expired, the paramilitary force had launched a campaign to remove them.
One of the lanes was reopened for vehicular traffic after a protest demonstration staged by the supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in December, 2013.
That protest had led to a scuffle between PPP and PTI activists. The PTI was particularly vocal over the issue as the party had secured the constituency wherein the Bilawal House lies in the last general elections.