Enraged cloth traders: Police under fire for using batons, tear gas

Law enforcers raid market after showdown with traders.

SUKKUR: Controversy surrounded an altercation between policemen and traders at the city’s wholesale cloth market on Sunday, as both groups claimed that the other was responsible for escalating hostilities.

The incident reportedly started when three plain-clothed policemen, head constable Sultan Ahmed and constables Ladho Khan and Ahmed Bux, raided Shakeel Memon’s shop, and asked him to accompany them. Shakeel reportedly argued with the policemen and refused to follow them. In the meantime, traders from nearby shops came to Shakeel’s shop and also started arguing with the policemen. The heated debate ultimately led to a physical altercation after which the three policemen left . Later, a heavy contingent of law enforcers, led by Sukkur ASP Raheem Shirazee, raided the market. Traders, who had already closed their shops, started pelting the law enforcers with stones. The policemen responded by using batons, tear gas shells and aerial firing.

ASP Shirazee told The Express Tribune that FIR No. 110/2012 was registered against Shakir Memon and Shakeel Memon on fraud charges. He said that as soon as the three policemen entered the shop, the shopkeeper and his colleagues beat them and snatched their weapons and mobile phones, claimed Shirazee.

However, Sukkur Small Traders Association president Jawed Memon told The Express Tribune that the scuffle broke out when the three plain-clothed policemen were forcibly taking Shakeel away.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2012.