Under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedures Code pillion riding has been banned In Karachi, the restriction has been in place since November 2008. The only break came in April, when the ban was lifted briefly from the 10th to the 29th of the month.
After looking at the image it has been clear that pillion riding ban is not only affecting common man of the city but also police is affected as there are insufficient transport facilities for the citizens of Karachi. Motorcycles have been used by a number of people to travel across the city and to lower fuel consumption two colleagues often travel together on a single bike, like my brother who went to his office with his colleague. He uses his own bike for two weeks and the rest of the month his friend uses his. In this way they both share economic benefit providing no harm to the society.
The Human Rights Network, which has challenged the ban in the Sindh High Court, estimates that at least three million Karachi residents are inconvenienced daily by the restriction.
Taken in conjunction with the marked absence of efficient public transport systems, the ban is tantamount to punishing the citizenry for the state’s failure to provide either security or viable alternatives to pillion-riding.
Image :Dawn
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