After the Masti Gate and Dharampura Police allegedly failed to deliver, dozens of citizens staged a massive protest against the alarming increase in robberies in their areas.
A large number of shopkeepers of Moti Bazaar assembled for a second consecutive day and chanted slogans against police. They blocked the road and burned tyres to press for their demands. According to them, around five to six shops were being robbed in a week but police, under command of the Masti Gate SHO, were acting as silent spectators.
Moti Bazaar Traders Association President Malik Liaqat and Amjad Minhas said that robberies have increased manifold in Moti Bazaar and police are doing nothing. They said that traders had arrested two dacoits and handed them over to the Masti Gate SHO with an application to lodge a FIR against them but he demanded Rs 20,000 as bribe.
“It’s unbelievable that the SHO released the dacoits instead of taking tangible action against them,” Moti Bazaar Traders Association Vice President Mirza Jameel Baig and other office-bearers said. The protestors dispersed after the newly-appointed SHO assured them of initiating legal action against robbers.
Separately, citizens claimed that policemen looted them at a picket in Dharampura Police Station precincts on Thursday. According to Awais, a resident of Shadbagh, policemen under supervision of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Khalid stopped him for thorough search. “During the search, police collected cash and other valuables worth thousands of rupees from me and my friend and ordered us to leave otherwise they will lodge a FIR against us,” he alleged. He claimed to have seen policemen snatching cash and other valuables from other citizens as well.
Basti Mughalpura residents articulate deprivations: Residents of Basti Mughal Pura, Sunder, staged a protest and a sit-in in front of Punjab Assembly against the illegal confiscation of land by influential solicitors on Friday.
The inhabitants carried banners and chanted slogans against the solicitors, saying “We are facing injustice for being poor”. They requested Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to resolve the issue as the incident had left them homeless.
Basti Mughal Pura, situated at Sunder Adda, Rangeenpur Road, became a disputed land when the residents were forced out and their houses bulldozed by influential personalities of the area.
