| Fateh Jang residents protest against Burki police |
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As many as 100 protestors, including women, marched towards Punjab Assembly on two buses, blocking The Mall and Fatima Jinnah Road for hours. Burki police arrived after two hours when protestors had vented their anger in front of CCPO Office and Punjab Assembly. It led the protestors to Lahore Press Club with official ‘protocol’ as one police vehicle escorted the protestors while another followed them for security. Civil Lines Police was witnessed as a silent spectator and referred the protestors to SP Cantt Division for action on their complaint.
The protestors, however, refused to go back and kept demonstrating in front of the CCPO Office and Punjab Assembly for more than two hours.
During the protest demonstration, the angry mob chanted slogans such as “Down with Burki police”. The demonstrators carried banners inscribed with slogans against Burki police and housing authority officials.
The protestors appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and IGP to take immediate action against Burki Police Station officials who along with the officials of a local housing authority allegedly stormed into Fateh Jung village to take possession of land spread over 33 kanals. They also alleged that the land was reserved for a graveyard but the housing authority officials wanted to occupy it.
A protestor told The News that a heavy contingent of police led by a DSP and SHO Burki on Friday 12 noon raided Fateh Jung, Singh Wala village in Burki police limits along with the officials of the housing authority in order to grab their land. He said the officials beat up ladies and men and shot at around six persons besides ripping women’s clothes. The injured were identified as Shaukat Ali, Aleem Shaukat, Basheer, Rizwan, Arif, and Aas Muhammad. The injured persons were moved to the police station instead of a hospital. Some policemen also shot themselves to implicate villagers in a fake case, the protestor alleged.
An elderly victim contended that police stopped Rescue 15 to air any call to the high officials as they kept contacting Emergency 15 for more than three hours but the system remained busy. The old man said that they planned to stage a protest demonstration against police highhandedness after their grievances were not redressed.
When contacted, SHO Zahid Nawaz of Burki police said that Fateh Jang villagers were insistent on using a passage which passed through a housing society instead of using an alternate route offered to them. He said the housing authority had erected a wall around its scheme but only a 10-foot gap, which touched Fateh Jang village, was about to be constructed. The tussle between the villagers and officials of the housing authority was ongoing for many months, the SHO added and said that on Friday, the villagers attacked security guards posted at the disputed area and left them injured and a crossfire ensued. The SHO claimed that around 22 officials of the housing authority and three cops were injured by the villagers. Zahid also denied involvement of police saying that it accompanied protestors to maintain law and order.
SP Cantt police division Dr Inam Waheed said that a case has been registered against 22 nominated accused of Fateh Jang as they had fired at the officials of the housing authority. The SP added that two cops and several officials were also injured in the firing. Asked whether police had manhandled the villagers, the SP said that it would be probed and ascertained after investigation.
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