LAHORE: To overcome the fallout of a controversy caused by Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has reportedly tasked the provincial government to do image building of Punjab Police, especially the provincial capital’s top cop.
Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan addressed a press conference along with CCPO Sheikh on Thursday and congratulated the city police chief and ASP Raza Tanvir for apprehending an accused and his father over threatening on social media to rape and kill a girl. Following the recent assault on a woman on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway, Sheikh remained in headlines and kept trending on social media for his controversial victim-blaming remarks.
Earlier this week, Sheikh called on Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, after which he issued a public apology for his insensitive statement about the motorway gang-rape victim after the incident which shook the nation and sparked protests across the country.
A couple of weeks before the episode, Sheikh caught media attention when Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastagir expressed his displeasure on his posting as the city police chief. The former IGP conveyed his reservations to both the federal and provincial governments but they preferred to retain Sheikh and replaced Dastagir.
Announcing the arrest of the youth involved in threatening the girl, Chohan highlighted that on the special directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, the police had arrested the culprit in just 10 hours.
“Now a clear difference has started to become evident in the attitude of Lahore police under the leadership of Sheikh and Punjab Police in general,” he maintained.
The minister underscored that no hooligan, bully and vagrant character would be allowed to cast a bad eye on the honour of any one’s mother, sister and daughter. He announced that any victim of blackmail should contact his office if her complaint was not redressed and added that all institutions should rectify their shortcomings and attitude so that the confidence of the people in the government and institutions could be restored.
He alleged that during the rule for former Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N had sponsored and backed land mafia and drug dealers through and within the police. Prime Minister Imran Khan had adopted a zero-tolerance policy against the patronage of mafias and blackmailers by police officials, he added.
Answering a question about the motorway case, Chohan said all sections of the police were working diligently to solve it and recent close contacts of the main accused Abid were in police custody.
Newspaper: Tribune
