On protest duty: Public dealing at commissioner, police head office halted

ISLAMABAD: Work at police head office and district administration offices has come to a halt with all top officials busy with duties surrounding the brewing PTI protest in the capital.

Offices of the Commissioner, District Coordination Officer (DCO), Regional Police Officer (RPO) and City Police Officer (CPO) have not been tending to public complaints since October 25, official sources said. These offices have been turned into monitoring cells to keep a close eye on activities of PTI and its allies.

Furthermore, an official notice reads that the divisional and district officers have been shut for public from October 25 to November 3.

Officials at these offices asked complainants to return after the dharna, said an official requesting anonymity.

Even transporting prisoners from jails to courts has come to a halt as the district police have been busy in catching PTI workers.

The registration of cases at police stations has also fallen, as most of officials are deployed at main thoroughfares to stop protesters.

According to sources, the top four officials of the civil administration including the commissioner, DCO, RPO and CPO provide hourly updates of arrests and security situation to IG Punjab and the chief secretary.

CPO Israr Abbasi is personally monitoring the raids and arrests of PTI chief Imran Khan’s supporters. In one incident, sources recalled, that the CPO told the IG on telephone that they had caught a ‘bird’, referring to the arrest of PTI’s city president.

Code names based on the names of birds have been assigned to key PTI leaders and every police officer sends reports on how many birds they had caught or sighted, sources said.

With police and administration engrossed in catching these birds, over 35,000 cases in sessions and magistrate courts have been put off and courts, have been extending dates for cases till after November 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.