Cultural hub under 'siege'

By: Asif Chaudhry

LAHORE - Surprise checking, body search, patrolling the roads, putting barriers and setting up pickets in every nook and corner of the City - this is how the police are treating the general public in the wake of Lahore blast that rocked the police establishment.
The local police on Sunday took extra security measures and as a part of these measures, citizens are being asked to show their National Identity Cards (NICs) by the policemen deployed at the pickets and the barriers around the provincial capital.
The new security measures have driven the motorists and road-users into great trouble. The police manning various pickets can be seen checking the people riding motorbikes, making body search and in case of car the inmates are asked to come out so that men in uniform could search the vehicle.
A police official said that on Sunday, the City police had received instructions from the higher authorities of the department to take stringent security steps by setting up pickets to keep an eye on the suspects.
But they certainly forgot that the families leaving their houses for an outing or to meet the near and dear ones on Sunday, the only weekly holiday, faced immense nuisance at the police barricades where they were stopped for surprise search and verification.
It has become a routine to ask the families to produce their NICs for identification purposes and in case they fail, they are asked to bring it from their houses.

The Nation:June 01,2009