Visitors are protesting the ban of the security-conscious Ministry of Ports and Shipping on all kinds of public and commercial activities at the M.A Jinnah Bridge, which, over the years, has turned into a picnic-cum worship place for Karachiites.
The Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri has strictly ordered the Karachi Port Trust not to allow a single person or vendor to gather at the scenic bridge.
Since the order was passed almost a couple of months back, the KPT has deployed its Port Security Force on the bridge to implement the federal minister's "condemnable" directives, which are said to have fallen heavily on visitors, especially the worshippers and the lovers.
A brief visit, during daytime, would show that at least 9 to 10 PSF personnel perform duty on the bridge daily in two shifts, 7am to 10pm and 10pm to 7am, to ensure that no one could stay there with especial emphasis being on the vendors, for whom the bridge has turned on to a business point.
The ban is said to be aimed at avoiding a security risk for the nearby Port Grand Complex, the KPT's multimillion rupees project which, according to a recent statement of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri, would be opened for public within the next couple of months.
Shahid Firoz, Chief Executive Grand Leisure Corporation, had told the author that the security tightening was for the security reasons. Besides security, marine pollution is said to be another source of concern for the Ports and Shipping Ministry and the KPT, Karachi Port's operator, who sees the garbage, thrown by the visitors into the sea, as a factor behind the problem.
For almost ten years, the M.A Jinnah Bridge has become an attractive site for the leisure-starved people of Karachi, who even now try to visit and gather at the scenic place, at different times from dawn to dusk. The visitors, however, can most of the time be seen making their way to the once-congested picnic point after sunset, when the PSF personnel are comparatively less vigilant or tend to relax the ban.
If categorised purpose-wise, there are at least three types of people who frequent the peaceful site and stay there for hours. First, those people who seeks the Almighty's blessings by following the Lebanese proverb of "Do Good and Throw it into the Sea", by throwing flour and other edibles into the sea for the fish. Some worshippers also feed animals' offal, mostly the lungs, to the flying creatures such as the black kites and crows.
Secondly, lovers, including married and unmarried couples, for whom the years-old bridge happens to be a place that is romantic and safer for dating. And last but not the least, families, who along with their children enjoy the windy atmosphere of the near-port bridge, in close proximity to the ships calling at the Karachi Port from across the globe and the cargo-handling thereon.
Mass assemblage of the worshippers at the bridge and the resultant high demand for charitable items, like flour and lungs, attract some poor but business-minded vendors, most of them being children, who sell the items at Rs 10 per plate on the bridge.
"They arrested me, along with an older guy and badly roughed us up for selling the flour... this is because of this hotel (the Port Grand)," a 12-year old vendor told the author in the late hours during which, he said, the PSF men remain flexible.
The young labourer, whose name is not mentioned to avoid an unfavourable reaction from those concerned, said that the ban had reduced his daily sale from the previous Rs 300 to Rs 180.
The visiting families back the government's security measure but the worshippers appear to be less appreciative condemning the move. "I condemn it as there is no other place where we can heal our ailments spiritually," said Erum from Clifton, while feeding flour to the fish as 'sadqa'. Asked if she shares the government's concern over marine pollution, the outspoken lady replied that the government should take care of the garbage, instead of pocketing the allocated funds.
"The families and the couples should voluntarily go to other places for dating," she added. A couple, claiming to be newly-wed outright rejected the ban as unjustified. "It is wrong! Which other place should the lovers find to spend some moments together," they said.
Shahid Firoz allays this concern of the couples saying, "If they are good people, they can come to the Port Grand where there would be no such bar." Javed from Ranchor Line and Qutbuddin of North Nazimababd, who had brought their families for an outing, opined that the prevailing uncertain security situation in the country required the masses to cooperate with the government.
Qutbuddin, however, was less upbeat that such bans could help Islamabad avoid terrorist attacks which, he said, despite all preventive measures were occurring across the country unabated. All said and done, as many of the war and political analysts believe, the menace of terrorism cannot be contained effectively unless the government addresses its root causes which, objectively saying, lie in politico-religious harmony and the resultant socio-economic stability in the country.
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