LAHORE, May 25: It’s not over till it’s over can be rightly attributed to the clash between a Punjab minister and police. The two parties had been at loggerheads for the past more than two weeks.

Apologies from both, and exchange of half-hearted smiles were witnessed at the Punjab home secretary’s office where the matter was ‘resolved’ a few days ago.

However, the dust seems to have settled for the time being, as the roots to the problems are still there. The problems which apparently springs from the ‘police station culture.’

Efforts to get rid of this culture have yet to bear fruit, as a number of proposals, studies and projects in the past remained useless. Former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif also lifted his voice to end the menace, but without success. The new police system and the reforms have contributed little towards improving the typical police station culture.

“This is only a beginning,” Punjab Tourism Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal told Dawn while commenting on the dispute. He said: “This is not a settlement. The police excused and ‘I showed greatness to forgive individuals.” However, he said, the problems of both the institutions were still there. “The Punjab government is going to take up this issue in the next cabinet meeting,” he added.

“As far as the dispute is concerned, we fought for a principled stand,” Lahore Operations and Prevention police SSP Aftab Cheema said. This was not personal rivalry, but an incident that was dealt as it should have been, he claimed. “Anyway, it’s good that it has ended amicably.”

The dispute started on May 6 when the Millat Park police arrested three alleged bootleggers and sent them behind the bars. A case was registered against them.

Mian Ashraf alias Billu, the elder brother of the minister, visited the police station and reportedly tried to get the alleged bootleggers free from the police custody.

However, Millat Park police station in-charge Inspector Asif Rafiq expressed his inability to do a favour to the minister’s brother. His refusal resulted in an argument and a scuffle. Billu alleged that the inspector had misbehaved with him and in return he was accused of having attacked the police with the help of his men.

His men reported the matter to the minister, who rushed to the police station. A wireless message pulled the SSP and Saddar division police SP Raja Riffat on the scene.

Both the parties levelled allegations against each other. Showing his uniform to his seniors, the inspector claimed it had been torn by the minister’s men who thrashed him and other policemen. But the minister and his men alleged that the police had beaten them.

The police sources, who were close to the developments to the incident, said the Saddar division police SP gave a hint to the minister that the police station in-charge would be sent packing. However, things changed when the SSP reached there and he tactfully delayed the issue and asked his subordinates to record the incident in the police station diary.

The minister, who had gone to the police station to teach the inspector a lesson, landed in an odd situation when he found the incident reported in the diary. He was sent home by the police on the assurance that appropriate action would be taken after an inquiry.

The Saddar division police SP was appointed inquiry officer. In his report, he held the minister and his brother guilty of interfering with the police’s working and attacking on them. “I did what I found truthful,” he told this reporter when asked to comment on the findings.

He added that it was up to the higher-ups to take appropriate action against the accused.

Ignoring his findings, a new probe was ordered when the chief minister intervened. Punjab police investigation wing SSP Dr Arif Mushtaq was appointed the new inquiry officer.

When contacted, Mr Mushtaq was reluctant to talk about the inquiry. “I will not give you its contents and findings,” he told this reporter at his office. However, he claimed that he did not do much so far because he was ill.

The police sources, however, confided that the inquiry report had been finalized by Mr Mushtaq. All other findings, including a comment on the incident by the Lahore Operations and Prevention SSP, had been submitted to Punjab IGP Masood Shah.”

The IGP is reported to have called the senior Lahore police officers and advised them to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, the sources said the Punjab home secretary had intervened and on his initiative the minister and the police officers gathered at his office. They added that the minister and the inspector apologised to eachother at his office.

As the events unfold, it was learnt that the police had machinated the clash. “It was planned by Lahore Operations and Prevention police SSP Aftab Cheema,” the minister alleged. He said he had twice complained to the Punjab chief minister about the SSP. “Mr Cheema always denied me a protocol and cooperation. You can understand that we, as politicians, have to follow our voters’ problems.”

According to the plan, both Millat Park and Samanabad police in charges had been replaced by the SSP much before the incident took place, he said, alleging that the in charges had been directed not to ‘cooperate’ with him. “They had also been asked to land me in trouble. They did it successfully,” he also alleged. “I will always say sorry if Mian Sahib thinks that the postings and transfers of the in charges, and other administrative matters at the police stations would be done as he wants,” Mr Cheema said. “I can’t cooperate for this,” he said.

“He is like a brother to me and I will always give him protocol. Nobody has ever sought explanation from me in this regard,” he said.

About the planned replacement of the heads of the police station falling in the constituency of the minister, the SSP said: “There was nothing like that. One of them was replaced for not registering a case while the other left the job citing some personal reasons.”

A senior police official said: “The way the matter was settled and hushed up was in violation of law. How can it be resolved by just exchange of apologies if it had been penned down in police station diary.”

He said a criminal case should have been registered either against the minister’s brother or the police inspector.

“It is not necessary to register cases into all the incidents reported in the police diary,” the operations and prevention police SSP said.

When contacted, a criminal lawyer, Pervaiz Inayat Malik, said there was no provision to settle such issue privately or politically. “The legal sections which would possibly attract the incident are not compoundable.”

In any case, he said, the matter should have been taken to the relevant court.