News Analysis |
In an interesting development, three police officers of Punjab police have been booked under sections 155-C and 382 of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to media reports, Mr. Nadeem Iqbal, Mr. Usman Mushtaq, and Mr. Usman Saeed have been arrested for blackmailing young couples in Lahore. These officers were detained after a case was registered against them following an investigation by the SP Gulberg on the orders of the DIG (investigations).
According to the FIR, the police officers blackmailed couples by making their videos and demanding money in return. “The suspects tortured Ali Mustafa and Fiza Jameel and snatched Rs2, 000 from them. They also asked Ali and Fiza to withdraw Rs 50, 000 from an ATM for them,” the FIR added. It has been reported that a gang of Punjab police was reportedly busy in harassing, threatening, and blackmailing young couples in the provincial capital.
The latest action against three officials is said to be a welcome move and is also an assurance of the idea of change propagated by Prime Minister Khan.
Pakistan today reported on the eve of October 5th that three police officers stopped a young boy and his friend near Ghalib Market on October 1st. The couple was then threatened and asked to pay some money to avoid any inconvenience. Meanwhile, the girl managed to send a text to her friend who happened to be a son of provincial minister Mr. Mehmoodur Rashid.
A few friends of the couple just reached the scene, took the police officers with them and went away. Later on, the police registered an FIR against the friends of the couple for alleged kidnapping, harassing and threatening the police officers who were on duty. On the contrary to the facts, the social media team of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took up the matter and blamed the son of the provincial minister for allegedly being with a girl in the reprehensible state.
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Mr. Mehmoodur Rashid had said it live in a program that if his son was involved in any illegal or immoral activity he would resign from the post. Mr. Rashid repeatedly maintained that his son went along with his friends to help out of their friends who was stopped by three police officers near Ghalib Market, Lahore. Now the investigation has revealed the names of real culprits who not only blackmailed the young couples but also tortured them.
It has been reported that a gang of Punjab police was reportedly busy in harassing, threatening, and blackmailing young couples in the provincial capital.
This is a major development in Naya Pakistan where the police independently looked into the matter and decided to register an FIR against their own colleagues. It is worth mentioning here that the police officers in Karachi too, reportedly ask young girls and boys to produce their nikahnama to prove a socially acceptable relationship between them. Those who remain unable to produce it are forced to pay money to the police officers to get out of the trap.
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Interestingly, one month ago a newly appointed Additional Inspector General of Police Amir Sheikh has directed the police officers in Karachi not to demand nikahnama from any couple. The letter issued by the AIG office stated that “there is a general complaint that policemen in mobiles and motorcycles harass and humiliate couples by asking them to show ‘nikahnama‘ to prove their credentials as husband and wife.”
Analysts are now praising the PTI-led government for making police independent and accountable before the law. The latest action against three officials is said to be a welcome move and is also an assurance of the idea of change propagated by Prime Minister Khan.