Four cattle traders injured as protest turns violent

Animal traders injured during protest after the Shera Kot police allegedly opened fire on them.

LAHORE: Four animal traders were injured on Sunday after the Shera Kot police allegedly opened fire on traders protesting against the government for moving the cattle market from Babu Sabu to Shahpur Kanjran. Three policemen were also injured.

Anees, a Rahim Yar Khan resident, who received a bullet wound, was moved to Services Hospital while the other three, with minor injuries, were shifted to a nearby hospital.

Anees alleged that he was shot at by a police officer as he was trying to run away.

Anees said that the traders were peacefully protesting against the government until the police arrived at the scene. The traders, he said, had blocked the Bund Road with burning tyres. He said that the police charged the protestors with batons in a bid to disperse them. He added that the traders threw stones at the police in self defence.

Superintendent of Police Romail Akram, however, denied that the trader was shot by the police. He said that the police did not open fire at the protestors. Some in the “cattle market land mafia”, he said, were firing in the air and Anees was injured by one of the bullets shot by them.

He said that the police officers were only trying to maintain law and order and that three police officers were injured by the stones thrown at them by the cattle traders.

About 300 sacrificial animal traders organised the protest against the city district government and the Shera Kot police for moving the market to Shapur Kanjran. The protestors set a motorcycle on fire and damaged several vehicles. They entered the Babu Sabu Interchange building and damaged furniture and broke glass windows.

Tehsil Municipal Officer Malik Tariq said that the cattle owners had earlier agreed to move to Johar Town near the Expo Centre and Shahdara.

He said that the owners were satisfied with moving to the new selling points as these had free lighting and medical facilities. He said that the land mafia was behind the protest as it did not want the traders to move due to their vested interests. Talking about Shahpur Kanjran, Anees said that there was no security of life or property at the place. He said that several cattle traders, who had moved to the place, had been robbed of thousands of rupees and their cattle. Anees said that he had lost most of his belongings in the recent floods and had borrowed animals from a local dealer and come to Lahore to sell them. “We cannot move to the place unless the government first guarantees us security,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2010.