Hundreds of aspiring policemen were thrashed by those already in uniform on Tuesday after they protested over delays in their physical and medical tests.
About 1,000 young men gathered outside Police Lines to get schedules for their medical and physical tests after passing the written exam for recruitment as Punjab police constables.
The candidates, many of whom had come from far-flung areas, were irked after being told that further tests had been delayed for two months and they would be called after Eid-ul-Fitr for physical tests.
Soon after, they blocked Airport Road before gathering at Kutcheri Chowk and protested against what they termed “an injustice”.
After protesters blocked the main intersection and hindered the flow of traffic, a heavy contingent of police reached there to disperse them.
Seeing the police, the protesting candidates stopped a passing pickup van loaded with mangoes and started pelting stones and the king of fruits at the police contingent. However, the ripe fruit did little damage as the police were equipped with shields.
The police, headed by the Civil Lines DSP, then started chasing the protesters while flailing batons, forcing them to disperse and opening the route for traffic, said an eyewitness. A few protesters were also arrested in the half-hour it took to clear the intersection.
CPO Azhar Hameed Khokher informed the media that the recruitment process and medical fitness test was delayed by the Central Police Office in Lahore because of the extreme heat. The postponement was to avoid any causality or injury during fitness test.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2012.
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