Govt, police oppose Rangers’ barrier-removal drive

Karachi
The provincial government and Karachi police are opposing Rangers’ drive against security barriers and barricades, arguing that it can not only worsen the law and order problem in the city, but also endanger the lives of several politicians, ministers, police officials and others who need high security.
Rangers Sindh director general Major General Bilal Akbar had set a three-day deadline for voluntarily removing all security barriers and barricades in the city. He had warned that after the expiration of the deadline, the paramilitary force would forcibly remove the barriers.
But when the deadline expired on Tuesday, government and police officials expressed their reservations over the move.
During a meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said security barriers should not be removed as they were helping in curbing street crimes.
However, security barriers and barricades have turned some places in the city into virtual “no-go” areas.
Notable among them are the residences of former presidents Asif Ali Zardari, known as Bilawal House, in Clifton and General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in Defence.
The Sindh government has decided that barriers and barricades outside their houses would not be removed.
Official home dept notice
The home department had sent a letter to the Rangers director general on March 21, requesting exempting Bilawal House and Musharraf’s residence from the barrier-removal drive.
IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali told reporters at the Central Police Office on Tuesday that Zardari and Musharraf were both former presidents and faced security threats.
“Barriers, barricades and other installations outside their houses for their protection are not being removed for the time being,” he added.
However, hundreds of other influential personalities including politicians, ministers, advisers, police officials and others have also created “no-go” areas around their houses, blocking permanently entire streets and roads for other citizens.
Sources said these personalities had tried to convince the paramilitary force’s high-ups to exempt them from the drive, but when their requests were turned down, they approached the chief minister and police chief to come to their rescue.
So far, Rangers have shown no urgency in implementing their director general’s directives as more time is being given to citizens to comply with the instructions.
Many officials and opposition politicians have already started removing barriers from the streets leading to their houses.
The Rangers have not officially announced as to when they would kick off their barrier-removal drive but some officials said it was likely to start from Wednesday or Thursday.
Many citizens have welcomed the Rangers’ initiative. They said that many streets and roads had become off-limits for them, creating a sense of insecurity and marginalisation.
“I’m happy that Rangers will remove illegal barriers and barricades from the streets as they create a lot of problems for people like me,” Abid Ali, a school van driver in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, told The News.
“Despite being a citizen of this country and city, several roads are off-limits for me and that is quite humiliating,” he added.
Ali said he and many of his friends operating school vans were calling the Rangers’ helpline 1101 and telling them about illegal barriers and barricades.