Middle-aged Munawar Raza looks at the enormous containers placed in front of him and then back at his restaurant lined with empty chairs and tables. A small smile appears on his face when he thinks of how food lovers once used to throng his restaurant located on the main Bilawal House road, munching his especialty ? the broast and BBQ delights.
But now, the grilled concrete structures, the barbed wires and the burly police officers guarding the Bilawal House fortress, have been scaring away his customers and badly affecting his business.
?For the security of one man, hundreds of us are made to suffer. People have difficulty moving their cars in this area and are stuck in traffic jams for hours. There is no parking space available here so who would want to come and eat here,? asks the owner who has witnessed a decline in his sales by 80 per cent since security was beefed up in the area after the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer.
Almost all the shopkeepers and traders, who have been earning their livelihood in this area for years, have similar woes to share. Security measures for the Bilawal House have been intensified to such limits that the main road has been closed for public. People living, working or travelling in this belt of Clifton?s Block-2 are only allowed to use the narrow service road which too has been barricaded with containers.
?Businesses have gone down; shutters have been pulled down and staffers have been laid off. I myself have to let go 12 men as my business went in the pits,? says Raza.
Two shops away, Ziauddin, who runs a small hotel, concurs, ?If it was 1,000 people coming previously, today only a handful of them turning up. Two eateries ? Student Biryani and Ali Baba Karahi ? have already been closed down, while others are worried on how to carry on with their businesses in such a dreadful situation?.
At a stationary shop, Nadeem is frustrated over the fact that shops on the main road were forced to shut down when any top official comes to Bilawal House.
?How unfair is it that whenever a VVIP visits the place, all the people are told to wrap up their businesses. Previously, I had customers coming from all over Defence but now only the residents of this area come to buy things.?
Opposite the Bilawal House there lies Beach Blessing Centre, a shopping centre and residential apartment.
Mohammad Farooq, a tailor, while cutting pieces of garment, said: ?Any normal person would be frightened to see the containers and would not like to come here for the second time. I agree here exists a great risk of an attack and security needs to be at par, but we also need to earn a living. If we don?t have customers coming here, then how will we earn and feed our families?.
Farooq has been working there for the last eight years and he is reluctant to take his setup to a new place.
On the roadside, a fruit vendor seemed exasperated while pointing towards the pile of building materials. ?It seems they are making another wall. If the President is fearful of an attack, then he should shift his residence to another location instead of ruining our businesses.?
Property prices have also gone down, as a man who wished anonymity said that he had been trying to rent out his shop for several months but nobody turned up.
When Raza was asked whether the affected shopkeepers raised this issue with the authorities concerned, he said: ?Oh yes, we tried several times to visit the Bilawal House and talk to the officials there, but we were rudely turned away by the police. We are helpless.?
Source: http://securitycamerashop.net/2011/06/06/bilawal-house-security-ruining-eateries-business/
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