Lahore’s Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh’s controversial remarks, in which he blamed the victim of the motorway gang-rape, have landed him in hot waters and he has now been summoned by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice.
A day earlier on September 10, CCPO Umar Sheikh, while giving an interview to a local news channel said: "What surprises me is that being a mother of three (young) children and the only driver (unaccompanied by an adult male), why would she not take the GT Road that has a population around it? If nothing else, she should have checked her fuel...,"
A meeting of the National Assembly's standing committee was held under the chairmanship of Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Riaz Fatyana. The committee also summoned secretary communications and IG Motorway Police for the next meeting.
Fatyana, calling the matter ‘very shameful’, inquired during today’s session why was the Motorway Police not deployed as this section of the road was opened for public use in March.
He said that there has been a strong reaction to the remarks made by CCPO Lahore and the official should give an explanation to the committee during the next meeting.
MNA Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk said he is ashamed and pondered to which depths the nation’s society has fallen to. He added that the minimum punishment should be to cut off the hands of the accused.
Fatyana also directed the Punjab government to provide psychological counselling to the victim and her children.
“There are seven hundred and fifty laws in the country,” he said. “This is not a matter of legislation but of implementation.”
MNA Kishwar Zahra added that there was a need for drastic reforms in the police as it transgresses its authority while Nafisa Shah said that the CCPO’s statement is a humiliation of the victim and that he should be removed from office.
The meeting also discussed a bill to amend Article 51 on reserved seats for women and minorities. Junaid Akbar said that direct elections should be held on reserved seats for minorities and women.
Fatyana said that major parties have a monopoly on reserved seats and that there is no elected women members in any of Punjab’s nine divisions.
Shah added that women MPs with reserved seats are considered inferior adding that many senior members say that women's seats are charitable.
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The gang of rapists must be hanged openly by the supreme judiciary after going through the legal process. Extraordinary situation is found to be seen in terms of criminality but it seems that our custodians are fast asleep.
Instant removal of CCPO and nothing else than death penalty of culprits.