LAHORE – Defence-A and Lower Mall Police postponed search operations in their respective jurisdictions on Wednesday due to lower cadre staff’s lack of interest, sources told Pakistan Today. It was learnt that the top brass of the Lahore Police had ordered extended search operations as well as intensification of security checks in the provincial capital in order to nab suspected terrorists and to curb terrorism. Sources said following the directions, Defence-A and Lower Mall Police decided to conduct search operations in their respective areas but before the two search operations could even start, lower subordinates of the two police stations refused to take part in them.
According to details, Defence-A Police Station House Officer Malik Khalid simply postponed the search operation whereas a search operation was staged at the Lower Mall in which only four constables and two upper subordinates participated and finished their “search operation” after searching only a couple of hotels in the surroundings of Data Darbar. Sources said that the search operation was initially cancelled due to a lack of interest of the lower subordinates but later was initiated by the Lower Mall Police when correspondents from different media organizations came to know about it.
Sources said that the lower subordinates avoided conducting search operations by saying that the locals did not like such search operations. Responding to a query, Defence-A Police SHO Malik Khalid said that they had cancelled the search operation because they had few policemen available due to other duties assigned to them and added that the police could conduct search operations only with their full strength. He said that the search operations had become a fruitful activity for the police in order to track down terrorists.
The Lower Mall SHO Naveed Azam said that he had not planned any search operation but he ordered the activity after the media reached his police station, Meanwhile Harbanspura police also launched a detailed search operation and collected particulars of people staying in rented houses, hotels, guest houses and hostels in order to track down any suspicious activity.
