When I was growing up, Army Stadium, now called Sher Khan Shaheed Stadium, Peshawar, was the Disneyland of Peshawar at least for us children who didn’t know better. Children my age used to look forward to the weekend when their parents were free to take them to the stadium and they would not complain the whole week. From dodgem cars to a racing track and Ferris wheel to Pirate Boat and a Play Pen for slightly younger children, everything was found on the premises including huge lush green, flower skirted lawns for picnics. It also had shops and restaurants and was once frequented by ladies and children from the surrounding posh areas.
Then terrorism struck Peshawar and most people from respectable families decided that the city was too dangerous and not worth living in. They moved to bigger cities and left a vacuum which was quickly filled by riff raffs. There were incidents of a crawling child being electrocuted by one of the exposed cables of the rides and of girls faced being slashed with blades by extremist for coming out to a public place. Such were the conditions of the once peaceful park.
These incidents were not publicized but the administration of the park decided to keep Saturday as a family day to make sure that the deprived women and children of Peshawar and its surroundings had a comparatively safe evening.
A time came when noise from the stadium could be heard incessantly in the surrounding residential areas and a stream of pick-ups, motorbikes with people behaving like hooligans and loud rickshaws started flowing through the streets especially on public holidays. It became impossible for residents to get to their homes on weekends, as they had to spend hours stuck near the entrance of Army Stadium because of traffic jams caused by unruly taxi and rickshaw drivers as well as wild pedestrians. When the army officials noticed this flow of civilian crowd around its precincts they decided it was time to warden off their premises. Permanent walls with no gates and barricades finally turned away the flow of unwanted vehicles.
Coming to the present condition of the Stadium, it is not as clean and colorful as it used to be. The once well-kept flower beds are trodden by un-monitored children and uncouth people. Despite the flow of money, the rides are unpainted, un-kept and some even broken. No steps have been taken to maintain these rides or enforce cleanliness. Today, the lawns are dotted with ugly contraptions which they call rides and are supposed to attract people. Only dare-devils or morons will ride or let their children do the same on these unsafe and unattractive things.
A few months ago, my friends and I decided to refresh our childhood memories and visit our favourite fun place. The visit turned into a nightmare when we saw village women clad in flashy clothes gawking at us as if we were aliens. Dodging through the crazy crowd, we finally reached the Pirate Boat, our all time favourite, which now looked like a one way ticket to hell. Traumatized by the crowd we huddled in a corner of the boat which swung drunkenly with a loud creek. As we clung to the iron bars for dear life, suddenly it came to a halt. We didn’t know whether to be relieved that the nightmare was over or to be startled by the sudden chaos around us and the entering of of Anti-Terrorist squad on the scene. Sirens screeched while announcements were made to vacate the premises. Supposedly, a bomb alarm had been sounded. Everyone rushed to the gates and there was a stampede despite the instructions by the police to stay calm. To our horror, we were in the middle of a sea of screaming and pushing people. My friends and I clutched each others’ hands and prayed this was not the last time that we were together, alive. Soon the crowd thinned out and by the time we got to the gate with our hearts in our throats, we came across the sheepishly smiling faces of police officers who had been made fool of yet again. After a quick and thorough checking of the place they realized that it was just a bomb scare. Whatever it was, I’m sure many like us decided that they would never go near the Stadium again.
With the incessant load shedding, or rather no electricity during the night in most places, people need a place where they can sit out in the open and where their children can also have a good time. While Army Stadium served that purpose for many years, it seems to have lost its charm and now only attracts the uncouth and rowdy. Suraya, a sweeper who works for cantonment board said that as much as she would love to take her children out in the evening to get relief from the sweltering heat of her two-room residential quarters, she cannot imagine taking her daughters to Army Stadium even though the girls are enticed by the lights and rides. She said that people like her were better off cursing, abusing and fighting out of frustration in their suffocating homes rather than jeopardizing their lives by going to such public places.
Expecting the government to take interest in creating places of entertainment, especially amusement parks, is no less than finding an oasis in a desert famed for not having water. At the moment, the government is too busy trying to save its back than to think of development projects in the field of entertainment. That seems to be the last thing on the officials’ and politicians’ minds. With elections right around the corner, the government knows it is too late to try anything to please the masses.
An article by : Misbah Buneri
