Punjab

Break-ins: Traders protest against police negligence, apathy

14 shops broken into on Sunday, merchandise stolen.

Our Correspondent March 03, 2013 1 min read

Protestors said the windows of the shops had been broken and the police claimed to have noticed nothing despite the fact that there was a picket nearby. PHOTO: FILE

GUJRANWALA: Traders of Main Bazaar in the Rajkot area protested against police on Sunday after 14 shops were broken into around midnight and the merchandise stolen.

The shopkeepers were joined in their protest by other traders and some residents of the area. They said the windows of the shops had been broken and the police claimed to have noticed nothing despite the fact that there was a picket nearby.

The protesters shouted slogans against the police’s negligence and blocked the road by burning tyres. They later gathered at Alipur Bypass and blocked that, as well.

They said the thieves had taken cash and goods worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. They said it was not the first such incident in the market. They said several complaints had been submitted to the police to improve security in the area, but no action was taken.

Muhammad Taqi, one of the affected traders, said the police had still not arrested anyone in the previous cases of theft at the market. He said businesses were already slow and with such incidents it took traders several months to cover the losses.

Dhallay Station House Officer Ahmed Sajjad Cheema said that the losses were not more than Rs50,000. He said the police had registered a complaint and were looking for suspects. He said instead of blaming the police for the incident, the traders should question their guards on night duty when the incident took place. He said police investigation were underway.

The traders alleged that police were reluctant to register complaints. They said more than 100 thefts and robberies had been reported at the 30 police stations in Gujranwala every day. Complaints for more than half of these, they said, were registered only after the affected people protested on the streets.

The SHO said that complaints could not be registered without initial investigation for authenticity of the claims. He said police were trying to find suspects in every case that had been registered.