Police accused of profiting from prostitution

LAHORE: Several guest houses and massage centres in Faisal Town operate as brothels with police protection, according to employees at these establishments.

There are at least 12 guest houses and three massage parlours in the jurisdiction of Faisal Town police station, and most of them either directly provide their customers with prostitutes or allow them to bring them to their rooms. Guests are told upon check-in that the hotel is for families, but then advised to do as they wish, just not inform the guest house administration.

Sources in the police alleged that Faisal Town station house officer Ghulam Nabi Bakhsh Butt was allowing these places to operate and earned a commission from them. They said SHO Butt had been telling senior officers for the last year that he had cleared his area of such establishments.

But a few days earlier, DSP Jahangir Butt of Garden Town Circle raided three guest houses in Faisal town police precincts and arrested men and women along with two constables of Faisal Town police, Manzoor Asif and Attique Butt.

Sources said that these two, who have been nominated in an FIR for prostitution, had been suspended earlier but were still working with the SHO.

Rooms in these guest houses range from Rs1,800 to Rs5,500. The cost of prostitutes varies between Rs6,000 and Rs20,000. The guests are directed to local pimps either by the hotel administration or by employees such as receptionists or waiters.

An employee of one guest house said on condition of anonymity that SHO Butt protected these guest houses and massage parlours. But because of the recent raids ordered by the SHO’s superiors, “business as usual” had been suspended till March 1. He said that a sub inspector had led a raid of the hotel recently and told them to stop renting out their rooms until March 1.

He said that all the guest houses in Faisal Town police jurisdiction were conveyed the aforesaid message.

An employee of another guest house said they did not allow prostitution, but the police raided them anyway and harassed guests. These raids happen off and on until the SHO’s palms are greased, he said. He too said that police officials had advised them to “go under cover” for a few days.

SHO Butt denied the allegations. He said that he had maintained firm control of his area for the last year and had instructed all the hotels not to allow prostitutes in their rooms. He said some hotels were still allowing these activities. “We have maintained a diary in which we keep information of the guests in the hotels,” he added.

He said that the recent raids at guest houses were made for security reasons and had nothing to do with alleged prostitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2011.