GUJRANWALA, Jan 5: Residents of Kamoke and Garjakh on Thursday protested against killing of four people, including a couple, and injuring a dozen others on resistance by bandits during dacoity bids on Wednesday night. The protesters called upon the Punjab chief minister and the IGP to take some stringent measures to check the rising incidents of lawlessness in the district. The protection of lives and property of the people should be the top priority of the government, they said.

Residents of these areas, who gathered outside the houses of the deceased persons to express their condolences, severely criticized the police for their failure to arrest the culprits.

They said the government and police claims of good governance and maintaining of the law and order situation was nothing but mere hollow slogans.

They were of the view that former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure was better than that of the present regime. During that period, they said that most of the outlaws were wiped out.

Armed bandits had killed Farid, his wife Mumtaz, and Javed Iqbal Siddiqi and Amir and injured around a dozen others on resistance during dacoity attempts in Kamoke on Wednesday night.