PESHAWAR: The militancy and targeted killings of law enforcers have added to the woes of traffic police as scores of policemen, who are supposed to regulate traffic in Peshawar, have to perform duty of sentry at different busy spots to protect their colleagues.

The personnel of traffic police can be seen holding rifles to keep watch on movement of suspected elements at different busy intersections of the major thoroughfares in the provincial metropolis.

Growing threats to their lives have forced the personnel of traffic police to carry arms for their protection but even then they do not seem secure unless they devise an effective strategy for the purpose.

A senior official said that it happened for the first time that traffic police were handed over guns on regular basis. The situation changed recently otherwise traffic police were considered to be community people, he added.

The official said that personnel of traffic police could go home for spending night with their families besides they were also exempted from emergency duties in remote areas during operations and raids. They also felt secure as compared to their colleagues, working on operation side, he added.

The policemen, who are supposed to regulate traffic, have to perform duty of sentry owing to security reasons

However, in the prevailing situation they also faced life threats and were more vulnerable to terrorist attacks because they were not supposed to check pedestrians but to regulate vehicular traffic, the official said.

“We have to regulate traffic, signal vehicles and sometimes chase those motorists, who try to escape after violating traffic rules. We do our duty without keeping in mind that our lives are at risk,” he said.

The official said that majority of their problems were caused by encroachments but the high-ups and provincial government were least bothered to devise an effective policy for bringing an end to the issue.

Similarly, the official pointed out that most of the drivers did not have driving licence. In case of taking any action against such drivers, the officials had to face embarrassment because the high-ups usually supported the influential persons instead of their subordinates, he added.

“The number of traffic police is also insufficient. Many of the traffic policemen have been assigned guard’s duty and we have to do the extra duty with no extra bonus and allowance,” the official said.

He said that government should deploy district police at the busy spots to secure lives of the traffic police personnel as they could not do double duty of challan and security.

“We have started security duty following the murder of a sub-inspector at Bana Manri Chowk, Peshawar by unidentified motorcyclists,” said Tehsinullah Khan, a constable.

The constable, who is usually seen with rifle in his hands at Saddar, told Dawn that he had to hold the rifle in addition to the duty of keeping watch on the vehicles violating the traffic rules.

Javed Khan, a sub-inspector, said that emergency situation had increased the burden on the existing traffic staff because many of the active police personnel had been assigned the duty of security so that the rest of personnel could continue checking the traffic violations with full satisfaction.

SSP (Traffic) Faisal Shehzad, when contacted, said that the police guards could be seen at all the vulnerable spots of the main roads in Peshawar.

“Two of our officials (sub-inspectors) were killed by terrorists at Bala Manri and Pejagi Road last month which forced us to arrange our own security to counter the attacks and secure lives of the personnel,” he said.

In the past, the SSP said, a policeman was sufficient to regulate traffic even on University Road, Khyber Road and GT Road but now at least two or three personnel were deployed at a spot owing to security reasons.

“We have deployed 525 personnel in the provincial metropolis and for each main spot there is a security guard of the same staff which means that the existing personnel are under pressure of duty load,” Mr Shehzad said.

The SSP admitted that it happened for the first time in the country’s history that traffic police were handed over guns but it was a compulsion and the situation would improve with passing of time. He said that traffic warden system would be introduced soon and the existing staff would be replaced with the hope to overcome maximum of the problems.

Mr Shehzad said that the issues pertaining to traffic signals, number of personnel, traffic engineering and driving licences would be resolved soon because work had already been initiated in that regard.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014