Outsourcing policing: Traders ‘who can afford it’ to be booked for lax security

District authorities assure traders union would be consulted before booking anyone

RAWALPINDI: District authorities on Saturday assured traders that fresh FIRs against traders under the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Ordinance 2015 would be registered after due consultation with traders unions’ representatives.

District Coordination Officer Talat Mahmood Gondal and City Police Officer Israr Ahmed Abbasi in a meeting assured the traders’ representatives that FIRs would be registered after consultations with the unions.

A delegation of traders met the DCO four days ago to complain about the fact that the police had started registering criminal cases against shopkeepers for not taking enough security measures. They said that all traders could not afford the required arrangements.

Naveed Kanwar, spokesperson for Anjuman-e-Tajran Rawalpindi, told The Express Tribune that the police had mainly booked small or low income traders. Kanwar said that jewellers, money changers, and dealers of prize bonds could afford the security equipment, but the owners of general stores and small shops could not afford to hire trained guards, or install surveillance cameras and cash lockers. He said that though the security situation demanded some necessary arrangements, all shopkeepers and traders could not afford these facilities. In the earlier meeting with the DCO, traders had proposed that the police contact representatives of the area before sealing shops or registering FIRs.

The spokesperson said that on Saturday, the DCO and CPO said that area deputy superintendent of police would contact the representatives of the area traders about inadequate security measures, adding that the police would only register FIRs against traders who could afford to install cameras and hire guards but were still not doing so.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2016.