Yesterday an interesting and illustrative case happened to me. I assure readers that it was not a journalistic experiment, not a tricky idea to identify the readiness of law enforcement agencies to protect the public. All I will narrate now is absolute truth.

So, on Sunday, at 14:10 I was walking down Ahmed Jamil Street, by the house N33B. This street is in the Yasamal district, where the bust of the Bolshevik Musabekov was situated once.

I shuddered when something exploded behind me. Turning around, I saw about a 30-year employee of an auto parts store, who enjoyed watching dissipating bluish smoke from the explosion.

I asked, "What are you doing?"

- I exploded that, OK?

- There are children everywhere here or a pregnant woman could pass by, and you "blow up" right in the street?

In short, we had a quarrel. I addressed him a bad word and we went into the store. From the depths of the store came out the head that was surprised at my indignation:

- The guy blew up not a grenade, but just a firecracker...

- Does your store produce firecrackers and explode them in the street?

After a brief and emotional skirmish the store manager defended his employee and said, "Complain to whom you want. There was no explosion."

I was outraged. An explosion in a city street, given that the country is at war with Armenia, - the situation is serious. And what if everyone does that at will?..

I picked up the phone and called a friend, who is an officer at the Ministry of National Security. I asked him what I should do. He initially protested and immediately promised to convey the information about the explosion to the anti-terrorism department of MNS. Then he called back and said that according to the rules, I had to call the "hotline" of MIA. And there, if they deemed it necessary, they would contact MNS.

I began to call the number 102. A female voice of the telephone robot said, "You call in MIA at 102. We cannot answer since all the lines are busy. You will be contacted."

After 10 minutes, I called again. The same answer.

Another 10 minutes later I heard the same words.

It was clear that even if the police descended today into the stores that make explosions in the streets, there would be no one found, and all traces of explosives would have been destroyed. And I would be still accused of injecting panic. They would believe the store manager that said: "No explosion happened..."

Half an hour later I drove by this store. It was closed and a lock was hanging on the door.

On Monday, I appealed to the spokesman of the Interior Ministry Orkhan Mansurzade and spoke about Sunday's event. Mansurzade explained that an overload of the telephone lines happened - that is, a technical glitch. "You know now how much people call us? Refer to 102 today and report the incident yesterday."

I guess I'm a bad citizen, but the next day I did not call 102, according to the above reason. I now understand that due to the usual MIA overload of telephone lines anything could happen anywhere in the country. Somewhere in Israel this street would be blocked before the citizens dialed the telephone number . But our terrorists can rest easy - the lines are overloaded. The "hot line" of MIA will repeat: "You will be contacted..."

Kamal Ali

ANN.az