Commissioner told to remove street barriers

Karachi
The Sindh High Court has directed the Karachi commissioner and the provincial chief secretary to submit a report regarding the removal of illegal street barriers in the city.
The court was hearing similar petitions against street barriers, encroachments and closure of roads near the Sindh Assembly building during assembly session.
Rana Faizul Hasan and Agha Syed Attaullah Shah had submitted that several areas and roads of the city had been closed by placing erecting barriers causing inconvenience to the citizens and restricting their right to free movement.
They alleged that armed people have also been stationed at the entry and exit points of different areas and they question people before allowing them entry.
They said 70 percent of link roads of Jamshed Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Nazimabad Town, New Karachi, Liquatabad Town, Korangi Town, Landhi Town, Clifton and other areas had been closed by placing barriers and citizens were suffering, especially in case of traffic jams on main roads.
The petitioners said every citizen had a right to free movement, but due to the closure of roads that right was seriously being prejudiced. The law enforcement agencies had failed to perform their duties despite clear Supreme Court’s directives for the removal of no-go areas and street barriers.
They pointed out that the Supreme Court had also observed that no-go areas could not be allowed in the country and nobody could be restrained from free access to public roads and areas, including private housing societies.
Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, DIG South Abdul Khalique Shaikh and other government functionaries appeared before the court and submitted that barricades were installed outside the sensitive installations, including the consulates of various countries for their security. However, the petitioners disputed the claim of the officials submitting that illegal barriers were still installed at different areas of the city
The court directed the commissioner to submit a report pointing out the areas where barricades have been erected outside the government installations, consulates, and offices of the political parties for the security purposes and submit compliance report regarding removal of barriers from the city streets.
It is pertinent to mention that the SHC had already directed the Sindh government to adopt such measures while providing security to the state dignitaries, foreign diplomats that may not affect the citizen’s right of freedom of movement.