Extortion investigation headed nowhere

Unidentified armed assailants shot at and injured a citizen in Shahdara two weeks ago

LAHORE: Despite the fact that terrorism is a major threat in the country, the Lahore police have failed to make concrete headway in a case involving militants from a banned outfit.

Over two weeks have passed since unidentified armed assailants shot at and injured a citizen, identified as Habibullah, in Shahdara. Reportedly, the assailants opened fire on the victim after he refused to respond to a call for extortion by a banned outfit.

Habibullah was returning home after offering his prayers when the incident occurred. He suffered critical injuries and was shifted to a hospital for medical treatment. In the complaint he filed at the police station, the victim’s brother said that it was too dark to identify the licence plate number of the motorcycle.

The victim’s brother claimed that the incident was related to threatening calls received in December 2018. “The caller tried to extort money from my brother. When he refused to pay, they opened fire at his vehicle in January 2019,” he said.

“They had given him a deadline of three months within which he had to make the payment. They attacked my brother after this deadline expired,” he said. He demanded authorities investigate the issue and provide justice to the family.

Investigation In charge Nasir Hameed stated little progress has been made in relation to the case. When asked if they had contacted the interior ministry to uncover details of the phone number used to make threatening calls to the victim, the official responded that they had not.

On the other hand, SHO Maqsood Gujjar said that law enforcement agencies are investigating the issue, keeping all possibilities on the table, including a tribal feud. He claimed that authorities will soon arrest the culprits.

Efforts were made to contact Shahdara DSP Nadeem Yaseen. However, he did not respond to calls for comment.

This is not the first such incident to have occurred. In January 2016, a case was registered after a manager at Lorry Ada received threatening calls asking for money from a banned outfit leader. Investigations revealed that the calls were made near the Torkham Border.

In 2015, Ali Raza was shot at and injured while he was at his clinic after refusing to pay money to the same banned organisation. The attacker had hurled a slogan before shooting the victim.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2019.