Traffic Police
By Col. Riaz Jafri
(Retd.)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
In a documentary on traffic (an
obvious mess) on the Geo TV surprisingly the SP
traffic Rawalpindi was shown describing the performance
of the traffic police as ‘very good’.
The SP has surely some other standards of gauging
the efficiency of his force or he is too naïve
to know the facts. My sincere advice to him is
to get out of his cosy office once in a while
to see for himself the real messy condition of
the traffic.
If he climbs a high-rise building he will not
savour the sight of the grinding and most disorderly
traffic beneath. Let him visit any time of the
day the huge Pir Wadhai round about on Peshawar
road where he will find half a dozen big buses
standing on and around it collecting passengers
from the bus terminal, and in the process clogging
the entire flow of traffic from both sides.
What surprises me most is that there are always
three to four traffic havildars and sub-inspectors
standing next to their motorbikes and chatting
just idly. By taking no notice of the traffic
mess they are in fact assisting the bus drivers
in picking up the passengers from the road side.
And, by the way, what do these police wallas pick
up from the drivers in return? It is an open secret
- something to keep the SP satisfied with their
performance!
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