Donkey riding Chinese couple amuses and puzzles officials

Islamabad-Foreign nationals are often seen driving around Islamabad in expensive vehicles but the roads of the capital witnessed an unusual sight earlier this week. A Chinese man and woman were seen riding a donkey-cart equipped with a solar panel in the upscale F-7 neighbourhood. It was not immediately clear why the Chinese nationals were riding a donkey-cart in the heart of the capital and police and traffic officials also seemed not that much interested in finding out the exact identities of the couple. A video of the incident has been doing the rounds on social media. 

Traffic police officials stopped the couple briefly at Faisal Chowk but let them go after a brief interaction. The police officials seemed puzzled and the onlookers seemed amused at the spectacle.

The Chinese couple riding a donkey-cart on a VIP route equipped with a solar panel and iron box having a blunt knife in federal capital two days ago exposed the performance of law enforcement agencies as well as traffic police.

Though, two officers of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) managed to stop the couple with smiling faces and in an ordinary manner at Faisal Chowk and questioned them briefly, yet the donkey-cart riders were released that too without noting their names and address or bringing the matter to the notice of top guns of capital police including Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Investigation Afzaal Ahmed Kausar, DIG VVIP Security Waqar Uddin Syed, SSP Traffic Farrukh Rashid and SSP Operations Dr Syed Mustafa Tanveer, something that exposed sheer negligence of the traffic police officials, as well as other LEAs, deputed on route to maintain law and order situation.

A video shared on Twitter shows a Chinese couple riding a donkey-cart with a big size solar panel and an iron box having a blunt weapon in it being stopped by two officers of Islamabad Traffic Police at Faisal Chowk. The incident has earned the attention of many on social media exploding a new debate about the SOPs of VIP routes as well as the traffic police laws. 

The LEAs should also look into their own security procedures after determining that Chinese couple managed to slip onto the VIP traffic route in Islamabad even though they were not allowed to run a donkey-cart on roads of Islamabad, said a senior police officer while talking to The Nation on condition of anonymity here on Wednesday.

He said the officers of ITP on duty should not have taken the matter lightly in fact they should had brought the incident to the notice of high ups of Islamabad police.

Sources also disclosed to The Nation that the couple upon asking told the police officers of ITP that they are very poor and have no money to buy a car. 

“That’s why we have this donkey cart to travel on roads,” he quoted the couple as saying. He said having a blunt weapon in possession in a highly sensitive area might be a cognizable offence but traffic police officers ignored the offence and let the couple go instead of informing officials of the police station concerned. SSP Traffic Farrukh Rashid, however, when contacted by The Nation, said this two-day-old video was shared on social media by a journalist who was present on the scene during the episode. “Sorry, we don’t have the information about the couple but we can get some clues from the sergeants who stopped the couple on Faisal Chowk or maybe from the journalist who filmed them,” replied SSP in response to a query.

Similarly, SSP Operations Islamabad Dr Syed Mustafa Tanveer and SP Special Branch Zubair Ahmed Sheikh were unaware about the occurrence of the incident of crashing a donkey-cart onto a VIP traffic route in highly sensitive Faisal Chowk in the capital. “Well, we can get information from SSP Traffic and will share with you later,” were the comments of both senior officers when they were approached by this correspondent to know their point of view. 

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/25-Mar-2021/donkey-riding-chinese-couple-amuses-and-puzzles-officials