Lawful cabs banned, permitless taxis allowed at UoP campus

PESHAWAR: While the University of Peshawar is taking measures to boost security on its campus, the permitless cabs are entering the varsity freely and it may pose security threats.The university administration has banned yellow taxis but the cabs of other colours are freely being driven in the campus.
Driver of a yellow cab, Abdullah, told this scribe that he was having proper permit for his vehicle but the university administration was not allowing him to bring his vehicle into the campus. “Those cabdrivers who are illegally plying various routes because they don’t have permits for the vehicles are allowed to enter the campus but we are disallowed even though we possess the permits,” he added.
He said that some people never travel in cabs that do not have permits because that can prove risky.Explaining the possible risk, the driver said that in case there is some contraband with a passenger and the police seize the material during checking, a cabdriver possessing permit can prove that he is just a driver and not involved in any illegality. “However, if a cab driver is not having permit, he would also be arrested along with the wrongdoer since it cannot be established that the car is a taxi or a private one,” he added.
A policeman at the campus told this scribe that they have been directed to stop entry of cabs into the campus.When told that many taxis are entering the campus, he said those vehicles were privately owned and not cabs. “We really don’t know whether the other vehicles are cabs or private cars. This is the reason we don’t care if these vehicles enter the campus. However, we don’t let the yellow cabs to enter the campus,” stated an assistant sub-inspector on duty at the Islamia College gate of the university.
It may be mentioned here that some cabdrivers entering the campus tell the policemen at the gates that their vehicles are not taxicabs but private ones and thus they dodge the policemen.A driver of a yellow cab told this scribe that the university administration should allow the taxis having permits to enter the campus and ban those that do not have permits because permitless cabs are illegal.
Once this scribe entered the campus in a red colour cab and the Campus Police did not ask him any question. Before entering the university camps, the driver gave this correspondent a piece of advice: “If asked, you should not tell the policemen that it is a cab. We will just tell them this is our private car.”
Kamran, an employee of a public sector organisation and a frequent visitor to the university campus, stated that the idea of the ban on the cabs in the university was a bad one. “Sometimes students with luggage find it difficult to take the hostels late in evening when the university’s own transport service is not available,” he pointed out.
Another student, Jawad, told The News that the authorities should allow the cabs with permits to enter the campus and ban those that do not have permits. The security in-charge of the campus, Dr Fazal Sher, said they had banned all cabs, whether yellow or the rest. He said the yellow cabs are identified easily and thus cannot enter the university premises.