Politicians patronise criminals, claims Lahore CCPO
PHOTO: FILE
The Lahore police chief on Thursday accused politicians of patronising robbers and other criminals.
During a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice chaired by Riaz Fatyana, Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh claimed that a notorious criminal named Shahbaz Bhinder was found at the Dera of PML-N lawmaker Mohsin Raja.
The PML-N MNA, who is part of the committee, refuted his allegation and in turn accused the Lahore police chief of approaching him for the his appointment as a DIG.
The chairman of the committee observed that Pakistan was disgraced across the world after the Lahore motorway gang-rape incident.
“When a motorway is opened, security personnel should be deployed first and the communication ministry failed to do,” Fatyana noted.
The meeting was also attended by IG Motorway Kaleem Imam, Punjab additional IG and former IG Shoaib Suddle.
“The incident of rape on Lahore-Sialkot motorway is sad and painful,” said IG Imam. “There is an area of 1,200 kilometres for which we have not been provided resources but are performing duties.”
IG Imam also added that the Motorway police had kept bringing the issue of lack of resources in the notice of relevant authorities.
CCPO Sheikh, while briefing the committee on the incident, said the reason for the woman for travelling late at night was the pressure of returning home from her husband.
“A conference call was made with Frontier Works Organization on the complaint of the woman running out of fuel,” the CCPO said.
“Forty-five minutes after the call to helpline 130, no one reached out to help. At 2:47 pm, a passerby reported at 15 [police emergency number],” he added.
“If 15 had been called in time, the incident would not have occurred.”
The Lahore police chief further said two best prosecutors available had been sought from the prosecutor general for the case.
He told the committee that 25 teams were working day and night to apprehend the main suspect, Abid Ali.
The chairman of the committee said that there was one emergency helpline globally, but in Pakistan, each department had its own helpline. He recommended having one universal helpline number for the country. He also said police would have to increase the quota of women in its personnel.
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 few days later, Lahore's top police official apologised for his statement. Shaikh, recently posted as Lahore CCPO after a controversy involving the previous provincial IG, said if his comments had offended anyone then he apologises, to not only the survivor but also to all others from the 'depth of his heart'.
There were multiple calls for his removal from all sections of society.