The only explanation is that the dacoits struck a deal with the police.
LAHORE: This is with reference to a story in your newspaper of April 18 titled “Bandits on the run: Police strike deal with katcha area criminals”. Your report would suggest that the Rahimyar Khan DCO and the Rajanpur DPO are looking the other way and letting the land-grabbers do as they please.
Recently, in the very small and backward district of Rajanpur, there was a massive, well-publicised police operation against dacoits who had been looting and pillaging for years. The operation was long overdue, and though it started very slowly, the pace picked up after a while and the Rajanpur police had most of the dacoits and criminals trapped on a small strip of land. They fired at them day and night but did not bother moving in. We were perplexed at their strategy but we assumed they knew what they were doing. Eventually they did move in, but found no dacoits.
The only explanation is that the dacoits struck a deal with the police. They managed to escape with their livestock, their families and their tractors, despite the fact that hundreds of policemen had apparently surrounded them. And after they escaped, they proceeded to grab our land, on which was standing wheat crop, ready to be harvested, and in which we had invested a considerable amount of money.
Instead of ejecting them, the police threatened to arrest our staff and confiscated the tractors we had sent to collect our wheat. They called a harvester and started cutting all the wheat, wheat belonging to my family members as well as others. I would like to add that I am a student of class IX and that this experience has jolted me. At the very least, there should be an inquiry against the senior police officials of the area.
Ghazain Mazari
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.
