Highway robbery: Jurisdiction dispute delays police action

Two police stations disown road where cattle traders were robbed.

FAISALABAD: Police have yet to take action on a robbery that took place on Samundari bypass road on Sunday as station house officers of both D-Type Colony and Thikriwala police stations say the road fells in the other police station’s jurisdiction.

D-Type Colony station house officer (SHO) Ali Imran said while a protest demonstration over the robbery had taken place in his jurisdiction, the crime happened in the Thikriwala precinct.

He also said no one had approached him for the registration of a case. Thikriwala SHO Nasir Chatha rejected that the road where the robbery took place was in his jurisdiction.

Talking to The Tribune, the traders insisted that they had gone to both police stations but their requests for registration of an FIR were declined.

Dozens of people including the 18 traders robbed by men posing as policemen earlier staged a demonstration and blocked Faisalabad-Samundari Road.

The protest continued for over two hours. The demonstration ended when Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sadiq Dogar reached the scene and assured the traders of appropriate action.

Three of the traders – Iqbal Ahmed, Muhammad Riaz and Mian Shareef – told The Tribune that a mini-truck they were riding back to their village from a nearby market was stopped at a picket near Sammundri Road Bypass.

They said the robbers, dressed as policemen, had taken away the cash they were carrying. They said the cash had been the proceeds of cattle sales at the market in the morning.

Some demonstrators at Faisalabad-Sammundari Road accused the police of protecting robbers. They said the police   get a share from the loot. “If the police want, they can stop such incidents in a day,” said Muhammad Akram.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2012.