Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has finally taken notice of the increasing crime rate in Lahore and warned the police officials of the metropolitan that no negligence will be tolerated in maintaining law and order in the city.
A high-level meeting was chaired by the chief minister on Tuesday in which police officials briefed him on the tragic robbery incident which claimed five lives last week in Millat Park area of the city.
On Saturday last week, five people including son and father were gunned down by two unidentified suspects when they resisted an attempt of robbery in their shop located in the Millat Park area. According to eyewitnesses, two unidentified motorcyclists wearing helmets entered the shop and started looting the owner and customers at gunpoint. Some customers tried to overpower one of the suspects, and that’s when the other opened fire in panic, killing five people. The robbers opened indiscriminate fire before fleeing from the crime scene which injured a few people.
Another such incident took place the same day. A shopkeeper shot dead two robbers when they forcibly tried to enter a shop in the Lower Mall area. The shopkeepers and traders staged protest against the incident and said that the government has miserably failed to provide law and order to businessmen.
Moreover, an associate professor named Rao Altaf Hussain from Government Science College Wahdat Road was gunned down on Tuesday last week in Iqbal Town area when he was coming back after dropping his son at the school during the day. Investigations by the police revealed that the professor was killed on grounds of personal enmity. He was shot dead when unidentified motorcyclists intercepted his car and opened indiscriminate fire.
The situation of law and order further worsened in the city when unidentified people on two motorbikes deprived the family of jewellery and cash worth Rs 400,000 at a traffic signal in Faisal Town area. The video of the robbery incident went viral on social media in which the crime scene can clearly be seen, while a long queue of other vehicles is also visible. The incident of robbery in day light at city’s busiest roads, despite the fact that hundreds of Dolphin Squad and Police Response Unit (PRU) personnel are seen patrolling on the roads, is a question mark on the performance of the authorities.
Moreover, Lahore police has announced a bounty of Rs 1 million on the identification of those involved in the incident of Millat Town in which five people were killed. Furthermore, an amount of 0.5 million has also been announced on the identification of robbers involved in the Faisal Town signal robbery.
A spokesperson for DIG operations (Lahore) Syed Hamad Raza told Pakistan Today that the achievements of Lahore police should not be overshadowed by a few criminal incidents. “We have provided foolproof security on several occasions including two phases of Raiwind congregation, urs of Data Ganj Bakhsh, Chehlum and Ashura and the occasion of Turkish president’s visit to the city – where our security arrangements were appreciated,” he said. The happening of few incidents in the population of 15 million is not worrisome, he added.
Meanwhile, the chief minister has sought an inquiry report into the criminal incidents within the next 72 hours.