VIP Killers

i got it through a forwarded email. this VIP movement is causring serious problems for citizens. i was once stuck because of this for an hour just one kilometer away from my home.

THE route seems longer than ever. She's in severe pain that starts from her abdomen and makes her entire body shiver. She desperately wants medical attention, but is trapped in a flood of vehicles. Her father looks at her helplessly; her brother anxiously searches for an exit. Her mother rubs her cold hand when she realizes that she's unconscious. Now she can vaguely hear sirens of the VVIP fleet passing from a distance. The ruptured appendix in her slim body is causing excruciating pain. She breathes her last in the back seat of a cab, without receiving any medical attention.

The girl referred to is Zill-e-Huma — a young, promising and polite M.A. Previous student of the Mass communication Department at the University of Karachi. She died on March 29, 2006, on her way to the Jinnah hospital after being stranded in a traffic jam caused by VVIP movement in the city because of a series of Expo exhibitions."Sorry, she's no more. Had she been brought a little earlier, her life could have been saved," doctors at the emergency department of the JPMC consoled her shocked family.

Huma was a popular student. Her friends are still in shock. She was a position-holder throughout her academic career. Her letters were frequently published in newspapers, and her news reports were appreciated for their accuracy and newsworthiness in her class. The day Huma passed away, she attended her classes till noon, worked on a group assignment, shared jokes with her classmates, promised her friend a belated birthday gift and even had a photograph taken with her close friends. Huma had been going through minor abdominal pains for a few days and was taking painkillers for relief. Doctors at a nearby hospital advised her family to rush her to the Jinnah hospital when she complained of severe pain on Wednesday afternoon after returning from the university. Her friends allege that she did not die from appendix rupture, but lost her life because of VVIP protocol that deprived her of immediate medical assistance, one of the basic rights of every citizen.

Huma's was not the first death caused by traffic jam during VIP movement. According to newspaper reports, five people died on their way to the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases in Karachi on Jan 7, 2006 when the vehicles carrying them got stuck in a traffic jam. "Only from Jan 1 to Jan 7 this year, 20 heart patients died on their way to the NICVD because of prolonged traffic jams," NICVD sources said.

In this regard, the Pakistan Medical Association also issued a press release according to which patients suffering from heart attack, severe abdominal pain, bleeding disorders, small children with foreign body bronchus, gynae and obstetric emergency problems, and trauma face hard times in reaching hospitals because of clogged traffic, particularly while the VIPs move around.
Despite frequent media coverage and public concern, the authorities have turned a blind eye to the issue. In all civilized societies, ambulances and fire engines have the first right to move ahead and no matter who's on theroad, traffic in one or two lanes keeps on moving to ensure the timely arrival of patients in hospitals. On the contrary, when the VIPs bless our cities with their generous presence, all roads and routes are blocked for hours in the name of security. With inauguration of the Expo centre in the heart of the city, organising regular exhibitions has intensified citizens' problems. Traffic jams on the University Road, Karsaz, Jail Road, Shahra-i-Faisal and other adjacent routes have become a routine thing during these exhibitions.

Reaching home, workplace and educational institution on time seems impossible for anyone faced with dense traffic, broken roads and confused traffic police. In these circumstances, the entire city gets paralysed for hours with road closures if God forbid any one of our leaders decides to appear in public.

Our government may have been able to promote its exports by $18 billion or more through these recent exhibitions, but is it a fair deal at the expense of precious lives? Do the authorities realise how suffocated and alienated Karachiites feel when they are denied to approach the Fatima Jinnah Road and the Abdullah Haroon Road in their own city for the sake of foreign delegates' security? What about the security of the common man?

Can't our leaders shift the Expo centre and foreign consulates to less crowded areas of the city, or perhaps out of the city? Can't they use helicopters and long flyovers from the airport to suitable points rather than paralysing city life? Are they least bothered to understand the resentment and agony of the people who are made to miss their trains, flights, classes, appointments, interviews and loved ones? Are we, the people, so worthless that we should die on roads while our leaders roam around in their bulletproof cars?

Who's responsible for these 21 cold-blooded murders on congested roads?

further links:
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=141422
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2006-daily/07-04-2006/oped/newspost.htm
http://67.59.144.177/daily_detail.asp?id=3047
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag2.htm