PFA team attacked, woman officer beaten

Team members were held hostage for two hours

SAHIWAL/SARGODHA:

Punjab Food Authority (PFA) Sargodha officer Rabia Tasneem was reportedly slapped by suspected producers of substandard khoya.

The suspects also shoved PHA staffers, stopped the vehicle and took them hostage. Police were able to release the team after two hours.

According to details, PFA Sargodha received a complaint that a food unit in Noorewala Town, which supplies khoya to Sargodha, Lahore and Islamabad, was making substandard product. A raid team was formed under the supervision of Rabia Tasneem and comprised Ayesha Babar, Bilal Shahid, security guard Akbar and driver Abdul Rahman.

When the PFA team arrived in Noroewala and started gathering samples of substandard khoya, 19 people, including Zafar Azhar, Mehdi Hasan, Ali Tahir, and Qamar Mohsin, allegedly assaulted them.

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They shoved other PFA workers, struck Rabia and interfered with government work. The accused halted the vehicle as the PFA team were hiding inside. The team was held hostage for two hours.

Rabia called the police and a unit from police station Tarkhanwala reached the scene two hours later and released the PFA team. Police station Tarkhanwala registered a case against the accused on the report of Rabia Tasneem, however no accused have been taken into custody as of the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2023.