KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief Munem Zafar Khan on Tuesday sharply criticised the newly launched E-Challan system in Karachi, calling it a “new tactic of looting Karachiites” by the Sindh government.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters, Idara Noor-e-Haq, Zafar termed the traffic E-Challan system an injustice to the city’s residents, saying it was being implemented without first improving the city’s dilapidated road infrastructure.
He said the Sindh government was “not willing to build proper roads but was imposing fines of international standards.”
Zafar added that “Karachi’s roads are worse than Katcha (riverine areas) roads,” questioning the logic behind heavy fines when basic civic infrastructure remains neglected.
The JI leader claimed that the fines imposed under the E-Challan system in Karachi were “ten times higher than those in Punjab,” describing the initiative as “a business of looting”.
“Road accidents are increasing, but the government thinks issuing E-Challans will solve the problem,” he remarked.
He criticised the Sindh government for burdening citizens who are already struggling with heavy bills for power, gas, and water. “People have no electricity, gas, or water, yet they are being slapped with heavy fines,” he said.
The JI chief demanded that the Sindh government first improve the city’s road conditions before imposing the E-Challan system.
Notbly, the newly launched E-challan system for traffic violations in Karachi issued fines totalling over Rs12.5 million and nearly 2,662 tickets within just six hours of its launch, ARY News reported on Tuesday.
According to the latest data released by the Karachi Traffic Police, a total of 2,662 e-challans were generated during the system’s initial hours of operation.
The breakdown of violations includes 419 cases of overspeeding, 3 lane violations, 4 stop-line violations, 1,535 for not wearing seatbelts, 166 for red-signal violations, 507 for riding without helmets, 7 for tinted windows, 5 for illegal parking, 5 for no-parking violations, 3 for wrong-way driving, and 32 for using a mobile phone while driving.
DIG Traffic Syed Pir Muhammad Shah hailed the new E-challan system as a major step toward strengthening traffic law enforcement and improving road safety across Karachi.
