Source Dawn
All the main roads in and around Kohat wear a deserted look in the evening owing to the ban, imposed by security forces on travelling in the region after 6pm for the last six years.
The Kohat-Parachinar Road is closed after 6pm to all kinds of traffic like the tunnel between Kohat and Peshawar. Same is the case of Kohat Cantonment. Even the businessmen, shopkeepers and students, living in the cantonment area, are frisked at the checkpoints twice a day.
“Our business has also suffered badly owing to unnecessary checking and curbs on movement in the area,” said the owner of a famous cloth shop, Shams Brothers, who is running business at the western side of the Cantonment.
He said that shoppers usually requested to accompany them to the checkpoint and tell the security personnel that they had only come to buy clothes.
He said that sometimes the staff deputed at the three major entry points didn’t accept even the computerised identity cards and refused to allow them to pass through the cantonment to reach their homes.
The public transport has already been banned in the Cantonment and residents of KDA use Rawalpindi and Hangu highways while those living along the Indus Highway travel on Bannu road.
The ban has resulted in traffic congestion on the main city’s road from Hangu Chowk to Zero Point near Kohat University. The students are also stopped for checking while going to and coming back from their schools in hired vehicles.
The army has established a shopping mall in the cantonment area where restaurants, bakeries, grocery shops, general stores and a club are situated. “It depends on the mood of the security staff to allow the visitors,” a resident said.
The issue has been raised at every level by the local parliamentarians, who are unanimous in passing resolutions at public meetings against the attitude of security personnel deployed at different checkposts.
The president of Bazaar Trade Union, Haji Abid, told Dawn that hundreds of families of the army men visited Kohat Bazaar, especially Bara markets for purchasing foreign crockery and clothes, everyday. “But on the other hand our entry into the cantonment has been banned,” he added.
The vehicles bringing goods from Peshawar are not allowed to pass through the Kohat tunnel after 6pm and the drivers are asked to wait at the entry point till morning. The vehicles with a single person onboard are also not allowed to pass through the tunnel as presence of two persons in a vehicle is must for passing through the tunnel.
There is no hotel on both sides of the tunnel and the drivers have to sleep in their vehicles or approach the high-ups through businessmen to pass through the tunnel.
Carrying a camera is also not allowed in the cantonment but the security men hardly check handy-cams and cellular phone sets.
The tunnel has also been closed for Afghan nationals for the last two-and-half months for unknown reasons. Their entry was banned during Muharram under Section 144, which is still intact.
The Afghans have to take the lengthy Kohat-Rawalpindi-Peshawar route for the provincial capital and onwards to Afghanistan.
In the beginning the Afghans, who were not aware of the ban and thought that it would be lifted after Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain, remained stuck for several weeks in areas on both sides of Kohat.
All the main roads in and around Kohat wear a deserted look in the evening owing to the ban, imposed by security forces on travelling in the region after 6pm for the last six years.
The Kohat-Parachinar Road is closed after 6pm to all kinds of traffic like the tunnel between Kohat and Peshawar. Same is the case of Kohat Cantonment. Even the businessmen, shopkeepers and students, living in the cantonment area, are frisked at the checkpoints twice a day.
“Our business has also suffered badly owing to unnecessary checking and curbs on movement in the area,” said the owner of a famous cloth shop, Shams Brothers, who is running business at the western side of the Cantonment.
He said that shoppers usually requested to accompany them to the checkpoint and tell the security personnel that they had only come to buy clothes.
He said that sometimes the staff deputed at the three major entry points didn’t accept even the computerised identity cards and refused to allow them to pass through the cantonment to reach their homes.
The public transport has already been banned in the Cantonment and residents of KDA use Rawalpindi and Hangu highways while those living along the Indus Highway travel on Bannu road.
The ban has resulted in traffic congestion on the main city’s road from Hangu Chowk to Zero Point near Kohat University. The students are also stopped for checking while going to and coming back from their schools in hired vehicles.
The army has established a shopping mall in the cantonment area where restaurants, bakeries, grocery shops, general stores and a club are situated. “It depends on the mood of the security staff to allow the visitors,” a resident said.
The issue has been raised at every level by the local parliamentarians, who are unanimous in passing resolutions at public meetings against the attitude of security personnel deployed at different checkposts.
The president of Bazaar Trade Union, Haji Abid, told Dawn that hundreds of families of the army men visited Kohat Bazaar, especially Bara markets for purchasing foreign crockery and clothes, everyday. “But on the other hand our entry into the cantonment has been banned,” he added.
The vehicles bringing goods from Peshawar are not allowed to pass through the Kohat tunnel after 6pm and the drivers are asked to wait at the entry point till morning. The vehicles with a single person onboard are also not allowed to pass through the tunnel as presence of two persons in a vehicle is must for passing through the tunnel.
There is no hotel on both sides of the tunnel and the drivers have to sleep in their vehicles or approach the high-ups through businessmen to pass through the tunnel.
Carrying a camera is also not allowed in the cantonment but the security men hardly check handy-cams and cellular phone sets.
The tunnel has also been closed for Afghan nationals for the last two-and-half months for unknown reasons. Their entry was banned during Muharram under Section 144, which is still intact.
The Afghans have to take the lengthy Kohat-Rawalpindi-Peshawar route for the provincial capital and onwards to Afghanistan.
In the beginning the Afghans, who were not aware of the ban and thought that it would be lifted after Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain, remained stuck for several weeks in areas on both sides of Kohat.
No comments:
Post a Comment