The practice of enclosing residential streets by placing barriers on both their ends has increased a lot over the past few years in Karachi. The residents of different areas put blockades at the entrances and exits of their streets so easily as if the street is their private property.
It can be understood that they do so due to the fear of robbers and dacoits, whose intrusion can take place anywhere at anytime, and they also want to avoid outsiders and extra people passing from their street unnecessarily, but they must realize that they have no right to block the streets or prevent anyone from entering them. These residents have their rights only over their respective houses and not over the entire street. Locking a street by putting barriers around it, is by no means a security measure, in fact, it is equivalent to claiming that a particular area belongs to a certain individual or a group of individuals, and this obviously, is not the case.
All roads, streets and thoroughfares in all the cities belong to the state and are made to facilitate people, thus they can be used by all citizens. If someone wants to go through a particular street or lane, it does not mean that the person is a trespasser. And especially in a metropolis like Karachi, where the roads are occupied with heavy traffic most of the times, people tend to use service roads and small streets to quickly get out from an area in order to save time and avoid themselves from getting stuck up in a traffic jam.
But unfortunately, this convenience is no more available to motorists in Karachi. Now, even if they avoid the main road and try to use the street as a short cut, they usually get stuck in the area soon after entering it because the streets are enclosed with barriers. Moreover, these barriers are mostly locked, with no guards near them to help the person out from that area or by just letting him pass through the lane. The poor driver gets stuck up in a labyrinth of streets and is unable to find a way out. Ultimately, the whole episode turns out to be as bad as getting stuck in a traffic jam and instead of saving time, the person ends up wasting more time than he would if he had gone straight through the main road or even if he had stuck up in a jam.
The entire experience is very exhausting and frustrating for a driver and this fencing of streets even prolongs traffic jams because not even a small fraction of the traffic is able to divert onto the minor roads or streets. Therefore, all the residents of such areas must realize that they cannot curtail anyone from passing through any road or lane as this is a completely illicit act. They can do whatever they want for the security of their own houses, but they are not authorized to lock the streets.
MADIHA VIQUAR
Karachi
