Trader alleges police harassment

Says guards taken to Sihala Police Station, forced to travel home alone

RAWALPINDI:

A businessman has alleged that Sihala police forcibly stopped him while he was travelling home from his office and arrested all the security guards accompanying him.

The police took the security guards to the police station along with their weapons. After stopping Hassan Nawaz Khokhar at a checkpoint for about an hour, searching him and checking the vehicles, the police allowed him to travel home alone late at night without security.

Talking to the media, Hassan Nawaz Khokhar said that this was the second time that he had been stopped at night while travelling home from his office with his company's security guards. He said he and his guards were stopped at a police checkpoint on GT Road within the jurisdiction of Sahala police station.

He said that despite all the weapons and vehicle documents being complete, he and his guards were harassed.

He was kept at the checkpoint for an hour for checking, after which police personnel took his security guards to Sahala police station in the name of further verification and forced him to go home alone, putting his security at risk.

Khokhar said he had property worth billions of rupees and a large business in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, which required him to keep security guards with him. He said all his security guards belonged to a registered company and had complete documentation.

Despite this, he said, the police harassment was beyond his understanding. He added that this was not the first such incident and that similar incidents had occurred in the past.

He said he was a patriotic Pakistani and had always followed the Constitution and law of Pakistan.

He added that he faced a threat to his life and therefore needed to keep security guards with him.

Khokhar said he reserved the right to approach the court against the enforcement of Section 144 and its alleged misuse by police.

When contacted, the duty officer at Sahala police station said Section 144 was in force and no one could carry weapons.