January 18, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 27, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: Rising incidents of snatching of computers, laptops and printers from shops have perturbed the vendors of computer parts and accessories in the twin cities, and they on Tuesday threatened to go on strike if the government does not come up with concrete steps to check the crime.

Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) President Munawar Iqbal in a statement issued after a meeting of the group said that robbers took away six laptops from Arabline Computers, Rawalpindi, two laptops from Idle Distributors, Blue Area and four packs of CDs from Muneer Brothers during the last one week.

He said deep sense of insecurity and lawlessness was prevailing among the vendors as they could not afford deployment of armed guard for their business.

He sought interior minister’s intervention to look into the matter. He also called upon the provincial governments to immediately take security measures before it was too late.

He said during the last few weeks in the twin cities the robbers entered the shops in group disguising as customers and left the premises with valuable items and disappeared immediately after the incident. He said in some cases they presented bogus or fake documents purported to be issued by government departments, agencies and organizations.

Recently, similar cases have also been reported from other parts of the country.

He said whenever policemen standing nearby called for help and intrusion they indulge in unnecessary and uncalled for explanations thus helping the culprits to escape.

Mr Iqbal said in all such instances when the victims approach the respective police stations for help and filing of FIRs/reports they were discouraged from filing of FIRs/Reports. “No effort is ever made to trace the culprits from their given Mobile phone numbers. Poor victims have to run from pillar to posts for help,” he added.

He said in most cases FIRs were registered only after the intervention of some influentials. Those who have no connections have to face hardship in filing reports, and ultimately they have to bribe police.

This provided every opportunity to the wrongdoers to get away with the crime, he added.