FAISALABAD, Feb 4: The district nazim flanked by nazims of various union councils of the district staged a demonstration on Monday to protest the alleged police torture on a Mamonkanjan union council (UC) nazim a couple of days ago.

The delinquent station house officer (SHO) was, however, immediately transferred after a meeting between the district nazim and the regional police officer (RPO) at the latter’s office.

Several nazims raised the issue of police torture on UC-93 Nazim Mehr Zahoor Ahmed during the district assembly session. They alleged that the police had subjected Mehr Zahoor to severe torture and detained him illegally for hours after he protested the worsening security situation in his area.

Mehr Zahoor and others had staged a demonstration in Mamonkanjan on Feb 1 against inefficiency of the local police for its failure to arrest criminals wanted in several robberies and dacoities. In one of such incidents, Mehr Zahoor himself had been robbed a day before on Jan 31.

District Nazim Rana Zahid Touseef expressed his anguish over the treatment meted out to an elected representative and assured the house that the incident would be brought into the notice of RPO.

Later, the nazims led by the district nazim came out of the district council building and marched on towards the RPO office.

They later staged a sit-in in front of RPO office and demanded action against the policemen responsible. The protesters also chanted slogans against the police for its alleged highhandedness besides its failure to curb crime. Later, RPO Talat Mehmood, who was already present outside his office, took District Nazim Touseef to his office for talks.

During the meeting, sources said, the RPO ensured the district nazim that Mamonkanjan SHO, Ghulam Mustafa, would not be spared. Talking to reporters, the nazims said the government had spent billions of rupees on police reforms, but to no avail. They said the police had no respect for the people, particularly the public representatives.

Sources said SHO Shahid Gujjar immediately replaced Ghulam Mustafa. Superintendent of Police (SP) Mushtaq Chaudhry confirmed that the SHO had been replaced. However, the SP said that it was yet to be decided that whether or not an inquiry would be launched against the SHO.