KARACHI: The barriers have given the city an identity of its own. For Karachi the saying that ‘if you find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn’t lead anywhere’ is correct. Just turn in the direction of any diplomatic mission such as the US Consulate, Runnymede or the Saudi Consulate and you are greeted by blast-proof cement blockades as tall as 12 feet high.

A single gesture of the hand to stop you or calling out ‘halt!’ no longer works. You need to be stopped in your tracks, physically. And the barriers help achieve this target. They also keep you on the right path as many are used to build lanes such as the tall ones near Bilawal House in Clifton.

When he took over office as Sindh’s chief minister in 2016 Murad Ali Shah did the people of Karachi a huge favour by removing the barriers outside the CM House being used to create a service road for VIP movement. Well, he didn’t remove them completely but had them pushed aside to create space on the road (they may be needed in emergencies, you never know).

Recently, especially on highways there have also been seen red and orange plastic barriers to be filled up with water to lend weight as they pave paths. Another kind of blast-proof blockade would be the khaki canvas wire-lined bags filled with sand for weight that border footpaths.

Still the most seen around town are the concrete variety, sometimes painted black and yellow, sometimes white, sometimes not painted at all … They are everywhere.

But it is not so common to find where they are manufactured. A few open yards in DHA Phase VII were recently found as having several new ones lying around. But it is a mystery how they got there for there is no one to tell you about that. The family resting on two charpoys near the new barriers say that they just see them lying around every day. “Sometimes they are lifted on to a truck with a crane or forklift truck and taken to wherever their need has arisen. Sometimes they bring in old cracked and broken ones to be dumped here,” says one of the older girls there. At another site, a couple of boys resting nearby also don’t know much about the concrete blocks around them.

The concrete jungle has a lot of uses for these barriers. What you need to remember is that you are confined only by the walls you build around yourself!

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2018