On my recent visit to Rawalpindi I asked a question to many people which most of them were unable to reply. I asked “Do they know who City Nazim of Rawalpindi is”.
Even though I am not a big fan of MQM but I support Mustafa Bhai.
Keep it up Mustafa Kamal.

Pigeon-holed Billboard on Shahrah-e-Qaideen Bridge

The first time I saw this pattern being made on a billboard near Marriott (on the Emirates-wala Billboard) I wondered what new marketing campaign was being planned for Karachi, but it wasn’t long when we started seeing the same pattern being cut away on a large number of billboards across the city. It must be an attempt to make these billboards lighter, while at the same time be better designed to withstand the gale force winds that Karachi saw a year back. Good move, though I would still have preferred a billboard-free Karachi

The Jam Sadiq Ali Bridge was closed to traffic for an indefinite period when cracks developed Wednesday evening on a portion of the bridge.
Traffic between the Koranagi Industrial Area and Qayumabad had been diverted to the Korangi River Road.
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Our fellow author Raja who is returning from thatta is reporting that there is a massive traffic jam around NIPA chowrangi towards Hassan Square. Development work is under progress for some sewerage line (well done CDGK, hopefully this will make life easy later on during rains in that area). If you are going from NIPA to HS the bridge is closed and the traffic is being diverted towards Aziz Bhatti Park. Raja reports that city police is providing great help to general public by managing traffic. Yesterday when I stuck near Liaqatabad the local thana police walas were seen managing traffic as no traffic police was there. One officer did just arrived as we came out from the jam & reached Karimabad bridge.

Yesterday, a young man caught the bandits who had robbed him by chasing them down to Liaquatabad.

Jaffery said that he was a resident of Liaquatabad and worked at a private firm. He went to Block-J, North Nazimabad, for office work Monday evening. On his way back to his workplace, two armed bandits on a motorbike stopped him at the Sakhi Hasan Chowrangi. They took his cellphone, cash and CNIC at gunpoint, and fled. Jaffery chased them, and the bandits sped up their motorbike, crossed the Nazimabad Bridge and turned towards Liaquatabad.

Jaffery said that he saw a patrolling police mobile near the Dakhana Chowrangi, and informed the officers about the bandits. The police party signaled them to stop. On seeing the law-enforcement personnel, the bandits opened fire which was retaliated. After a brief crossfire, Hamid (alias Piya) and Farhan were arrested. Pistols and looted items were recovered from them.

Kudos to the guy, who fought for his right. Of course, this was a bit dangerous as well because these bandits do not hesitate to use their guns, but this needed mentioning.

Link: News

While car owners may have (arguably) gained a lot from the flyovers and signal free corridors that the government seems to be intent on making, it is the pedestrians who have ultimately lost. I remember a time when the road below baloch colony bridge was considered one of the most dangerous roads to cross. Now it seems university road, gulistan-e-jauhar, a major stretch of shara-e-faisal and i don’t know how many roads have become just as dangerous.

We definitely need a LOT more footbridges. But one more important thing that we need is driving etiquette. Footbridges can be built if the government has enough money, but how does someone teach driving etiquette?

I apologize for the picture quality, but caught this donkey cart with a flat tire / breakdown on top of the Baluch Colony bridge. Sad but I think lugging these steel bars on donkey carts across the city can be considered as cruelty to animals. Notice the other set of bars lying on the sidewalk which too must have been on this cart prior the to the ill-fated malfunctioning tire

What I’d like to know if the going rate for using donkey cart is really that cheap, versus using any other motorized vehicle to lug these steel bars? Is the cost factor really that different that we have to subject these animals to such a torture. Granted a donkey can be used for lugging stuff but there must be a tolerance level for this animal as well. I can only imagine the struggle it took to have reached the top of this bridge.

When will those who claim to be our “leaders” focus their “demands” on actual needs of the hapless people they claim to represent? Take for instance this this recent report from The News. It quotes the the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) Karachi chief, Shabbir Abu Talib demanding amongst other things a two day official holiday for the birth (and death) anniversary of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

“The government should officially announce two-day holidays on the 11th and 12th or the 12th and 13th of Rabiul-Awwal” he insisted, whilst also calling for “uninterrupted electricity supply during Rabiul Awwal processions”, a “special cleanliness campaign” (as a part of which limestone should be sprinkled at roadsides, footpaths, grounds and garbage-dumping centres he demanded) and “high standards of law and order in the city” which would ironically include accommodations for crowds to proceed in processions without any barriers and prior permissions. Read more

This Baluch Colony pedestrian crossing on Shahrai Faisal is very dangerous for all pedestrians. A few years back two pedestrian bridges were constructed to cater to this crossing but were instead positioned a few hundred feet on either side of this bridge, almost not catering to this specific pedestrian traffic. Its been observed that most of the people choose to brave the mad rush across weaving their way between the fast paced oncoming traffic.

Observe the two gentlemen trying to cross the road, the first one (in white) attempted to cross initially but hung back trying to time is next sprint as soon as my vehicle crossed him, while the other guy (in shalwar kameez) seems to be taking a stroll oblivious to the oncoming traffic as if to say ‘you move out of my way‘, I sure did.

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This post could be useful for those who use FTC bridge on their way from Defence/Kalapul to reach Shahrah-e-Faisal during peak traffic hours. A lot of friends fall under this category and have asserted the hack’s usability and are now an addict to the same. KMB presents this for the masses here:

The FTC bridge end that lands at SF is generally controlled by a traffic policeman trying to regulate the same so that SF traffic can flow smoothly. For a number of weeks, the very area is also a scene of some chronic ground digging that has rendered the road bumpy. Both these factors clog up the entire semi-circle of the bridge section and traffic headed for SF just sticks there for eternity. It takes at least ten and at times even fifteen minutes for the motorist to reach from the top of the bridge to SF via this route.

Like a close secret that travels seena-ba-seena (chest-to-chest) from one person to another, a friend of mine told me a hack that just works, everyday! Such is the usability of the hack that he wanted me not to tell anyone else lest the secret would no longer remain one!

The hack is to take left instead of right from the top of the bridge (better if you start off the bridge’s climb in the left-most lane as it is the fastest moving one) and get down the bridge on the part that connects to Sadar area. Once on ground, move forward (do not take the wrong, over-the-island cut that some people have started using), take a proper U-turn and move back towards Shahrah-e-Faisal. Now you would be under the bridge and will find very little resistance to join the main stream of traffic which would be moving at a faster rate.

Avoid looking with mercy to your left where the policemen and the road bumps are holding the non-KMB readers in long queues of wait! :)

p.s: This hack is 100% ethical, does not break any traffic rules and can save you over 400 minutes of stuck-on-the-road every month!