Pirwadhai Bus Stand: Prostitutes, buses and passengers... all in one!

By Zulfiqar Ghuman and Mohammad Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pirwadhai Bus Stand, the busiest in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, is actually a centre of problems for passengers and people residing in the neighbourhood. [color="Navy"]The area is a haven for prostitutes, pimps, sodomites and paedophiles.
Besides, it is not only the bus stop which is sharply running down but roads leading to the stand are too rough to travel on. Illegal hotels are an attraction for antisocial elements. Lack of civic facilities and security arrangements adds to the miseries of the people.

Nearly 1,100 to 1,200 buses run from the stand across the country every day. Hundreds of passengers for Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Alipur, Bahwalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Peshawar, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot Gilgit, Chitral, Sawat, Sakrdu, and Azad Kashmir come to the stand to get their buses.

There is only one close circuit camera installed at the bus stop to keep watch on criminal activities. “The district administration installed four close circuit cameras four years ago but all of them were damaged,” Mailk Ahmed Khan, the bus stop manager, told Daily Times.

Private transporters have private security to thwart any threats. Given the sensitivity of the place where bombs have exploded in the past, it is hard to believe that police is least concerned about security. “Though big transport companies have hired private security staff, they only check passengers boarding the buses of these companies. The rest of the transport vehicles go unchecked,” said Khan.

Private security cannot stop terror attacks as the security staff checks passengers only when buses are parked at the stand but it is common knowledge that drivers also pick passengers en route .

[color="navy"]Women and child sex workers lure bus staff and passengers, hoping to get customers. Drivers and conductors call prostitutes to their busses parked away from the stand to get ‘their services’.

[color="navy"]The most dangerous aspect of this activity is that they do not use any preventive measures advised for safe sex. “We do not have time to adopt safe sex measures,” said a diver, requesting anonymity.

He said that income of the bus stand was decreasing because of rundown roads leading to the stand. “Bus drivers prefer to pick passengers from Sabzi Mandi Mor, a turn on IJ Principal Road near the stand, rather than come to the stand,” he said.

Khan said that some companies have set up terminals near Sabzi Mandi Mor, which also negatively affects the income generated at the bus stand. He said the government had earned Rs 20 million from the stand and has set aside funds to develop it “but so far nothing has been done”.

There is no proper waiting room, especially for women at the bus stand. “It [color="navy"]is really embarrassing to come to the bus stop with women,” Abdur Razzaq, a passenger, said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006211story_11-2-2006_pg7_21

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