Travelling in style

I had great respect and admiration for the Pakistan Motorway Police. They were the perfect government worker, honest, hardworking, dependable and most of all, upright. They always tried to work for the benefit of Pakistan and the Pakistani people. But on 24 December 2012, my respect for the Pakistan Motorway Police ended, when I saw how this esteemed organisation has also been inflicted by the same ailments seen in all the rest of the government organisations.
At around 6:30 PM, while heading the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway, I was following the motorcade of Ms Asma Jehangir. While I was traveling with four other family members in one car, Ms Asma Jehangir was traveling in three cars, that is with two police escorts. During this time, I saw how a Motorway Police jeep would come to escort this motorcade, while passing stranded drivers on the motorway. Using the heavily powered petrol jeeps, the motorway police was escorting one person, who already had two cars escorting her, at a cost to us, the people of Pakistan.
Because I was following this motorcade since Peshawar, as the motorway is a straight road, the escort of Ms Jehangir did not like this and soon enough the end car tried to run our car, going at 120 KM/hr, into the side barricade. I was glad for the 6 feet of side road, that helped save us, but when I tried to ask the driver why he did this, I was stopped by the Motorway Police, who had the audacity to tell me that they were stopping me on the orders of the minister, as I was not to follow them on the motorway, which is a straight road. They even went on to tell me how they follow each and every order of the minister, even if it means to hurt a citizen of Pakistan or their families. After a 20-minute disgusting argument, I was allowed to leave when I gave them my name and phone number, as Ms Jehangir had strictly asked them to do so.
It was disappointing to see the once champion of justice, Ms Asma Jehangir, riding in a motorcade of three cars, and whose motorcade was harassing the citizens of Pakistan. But it was truly heart breaking to hear the officer of the Motorway Police say those words to me. I am truly saddened to see how the upright and honest people and organizations change once they become part of the Pakistani government.
I would like to advise everyone in Pakistan to ask all dignitaries, who wish to travel but are afraid of attacks on their lives, and end up traveling in 3-9 cars motorcade. Please tell them not to travel, instead they should either quit their “dangerous” job, or use technology like “Skype” or 3G video call (if they ever get to sell the license, 2020? maybe?) to do their meetings with people. Why do they make the life of the ordinary citizens at risk, just because they want to show how they care about the people by going for a “dua” at a deceased minister’s home?
And I am truly glad that Ms Jehangir had only asked for my number and had not asked the Motorway Police to shoot me in an “Al-Qaeda attack”, because that would have created even more fear in the hearts of our leaders, and they would have increased their motorcades from 3 to 6 cars, creating even more problems and harassment for the citizens of Pakistan.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar