Motorway police fines PAF Mirages for overspeeding
Tensions flared yet again on the Motorways network when the National Highways and Motorways Police (NH&MP) stopped the Pakistan Air Force’s Mirage aircraft, which were conducting routine strategic testing exercises on the M2, and fined them for over-speeding.
“Before I had come to a complete stop after I had landed, I was already being pulled over by a Patrolling Officer,” said Flight Lieutenant Yawar Siddiqui. “When I stopped, he told me I was over-speeding and that I had to pay the fine on the spot to the Mobile Collection Unit.”
“Yes, he argued for a bit,” said Patrolling Officer Zia Yousufzai. “But I told him clearly: gathering storm of war in the sub-continent or not, rules are rules, sorry.”
“120 km/h mean 120! And he was exceeding 340 km/h, which is not even covered under our grace allowance,” said Yousufzai.
Experts believe that the PAF officer was compliant only because the recent altercation between the NH&MP and army officers had resulted in a rare show of public support for the police, rather than the military.
“I am so not paying for this fine out of my own pocket,” said Flt Lt Siddiqui, smoking a cigarette while leaning on his Mirage V ROSE Avionics, which he had parked on the side of the M2. “But I suspect Air Commodore Zubair is not going to reimburse me, the way he didn’t when I paid for that movie that his family saw last week.”