Lahore Police are perhaps unique in their record of being least interested in arresting robbers and having a defined propensity to arrest the victims instead. The notion is at least true for a Green Town trader, who found himself facing a police case after being robbed four times in two years.
Reportedly, police registered a first information report against Arif Sheikh, a trader who was protesting peacefully after being robbed for the fourth straight time despite having sent applications to several high-level government officials including the capital city police officer (CCPO) and Punjab chief secretary,
Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sheikh’s Chanda Mobile Shop in the Green Town Police precincts was hit by robbers for the fourth time in the last two years on August 14, despite the previous incidents being duly reported to the police, and after Sheikh filed applications to the senior superintendent of police (SSP), the CCPO, the inspector general (IG) and the chief secretary. After the latest robbery, Sheikh and other traders from the area took to the streets in a peaceful protest, upon which the police arrested him and registered a case of hooliganism against him.
“The people were infuriated this time as I’ve been submitting numerous applications since the first robbery, but instead of police officials paying attention to my case, the shop was robbed again,” Sheikh told Pakistan Today. He is also the president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) for UC-138 and residents of the area believe police were mistreating him because he was a dedicated worker of the PTI.
Sheikh said that in 2009, one of his security guards was killed during the first robbery when he tried to resist. He said the latest break-in had taken place on August 14, after which police had booked him for protesting. Sheikh said he had reported all these incidents to many high-ranking officials, but to no avail. He claimed that the thieves involved in the second robbery were caught by the police and DSP Ijaz Rasheed, who had now been transferred, suspected Investigation Officer Ikram Bhatti of taking bribes to let the crooks go.
The Green Town Police SHO refused to comment on the incident.
