Adil Najam
Beware folks! If you ever have to visit a Police Station in Pakistan, make sure your car is not blocking the gate otherwise true to their motto which is: police ka hai farz, madad aap ki (it is our duty to help you) they might take swift action and help you in long term parking there by deflating your vehicle tyres. The notice below is from a Police Station in Pakistan.
There is, of course, much that can be read into this. The most obvious candidate might be the police action now going on in the Lal Masjid. Of course, we at ATP could use it as yet another notice to our more shararti friends (see earlier post here). Owais may well choose to replace the picture in the comments section with this one for a while. There is, more sinisterly, the dark and shameful side of police action that we have also tried to show (here and here). But, for now, let me chalk this up as one more piece in my ongoing fascination with Pakistani cops (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and more).
Photo Credits: We found this picture at Flickr in Tango 48’s photo stream.
SIR, MY NAME IS MUHAMMAD AZEEM SAIGAL R/O KARACHI. SIR, I NEED JOBS IN POLICE DEPARTMENT BECAUSE MY FATHER DEATH RESENTLY ONE MONTH. PLEASE DO SOME THING FOR ME. THANKING YOU
Adil, this notice board is hilarious :) Another story comes to my mind. In one of the Shafiqur Rehman books (I think the chapter is called ‘Ali Baba 40 chor’), he talks about a ‘thaanedaar’ (sherrif) whose ‘takya kalaam’ was:
‘aap kabhi thaane meiN tashreef layiyay na!’
The ‘thaanedaar’ used to say this ‘takya kalaam’ after every few sentences as part of his ‘mehman nawaz’ personality but it made his listeners very nervous :) This ‘thanedaar’ was so ‘mehman nawaz’ that he had a notice board installed at the main entrance of the ‘thaana’ saying:
“khush Amdeed” (Welcome)
When I saw Adil’s post above, it somehow reminded me of this very opposite story of police stations which i shared here.
Let me take the oppertunity on this forum to bring forth the excellent job the new traffic police is doing in Lahore. The discussion of thier pay scale etc aside , the most amazingly refreshing thing about them is how vigilant and polite they are. My driver has suddenly started wearing the seat belt every time he sits in the car and abstains from answering the cell phone will driving as do i BECAUSE we were asked politely to do so at an intersection. Also the fear of a ticket perhaps is also a major factor contributing towards this sudden found respect of law.
Hit the nation where it hurts and they will be law abiding citizens … thier wallets !
Blocking a drive way or parking lot for some one will subject to 120 pounds ticket in UK.
This penelty is relatively cheap.
ive had an experience just minutes ago and seeing this photo has given me a chance to vent out. driving to my internship this morning i was slammed THRICE, upon no provocation, by a landcruiser (me in my humble alto). the right lane was empty so he could have easily overtaken me, but he chose to try and drive over me. my bumper is busted and the break light cracked. he proceeded to ‘cut’ savagely in front of me, gloating on his ‘victory’, i almost spun out of control!!!. recovering from the shock i caught a glimpse of his number plate. GOVT!!!
THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO THIS!!!
shock turns to blind rage. i think ive shouted my share of obscenities then. and for the first time ive put a curse dua without feeling regret.
excuse me while i type some four letter words elsewhere………^_^