September 10, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 09, 1429

GUJAR KHAN, Sept 9: A gang of highwaymen looted six vehicles Monday night and deprived passengers of cash and valuables at gunpoint near Miani Borgi Kasi on the Qazian Jabbar Road, eyewitnesses told Dawn.

According to the locals, about 10 robbers equipped with sophisticated weapons kept the road blocked for some time and looted the passengers. The robbers also beat up some passengers when they tried to resist them.

When this reporter visited the area on Tuesday evening, the residents sitting at different shops in Manjhota and Miani Borgi confirmed the incident and they were terrified over the frequent incidents of highway robberies at this spot. They regretted that the police had failed to arrange proper patrolling in the area.

When contacted, the police expressed ignorance about the incident, while the locals claimed they had seen the police on the scene after the robbers escaped. The police termed the incident a “rumour”.

However, some victims of the robbery told this reporter that they had been deprive of money. Sheikh Khalid, resident of Pandori Bangial village, surrendered Rs14,00 and other valuables to the robbers and they deprived Latif, resident of Pandori Bangial, of Rs3,400, while Malik Daud, resident of Jabbar village, lost Rs2,500. The victims said the robbers had looted the passengers in their presence and the police reached the scene after the highwaymen escaped. Residents of the area urged the chief minister Punjab to take serious notice of the robbery incidents in the area and initiate probe into inefficiency of the police.

Policemen put behind bars: Two police constables have complained to the city police officer Rawalpindi that they were repeatedly locked up in the city police station over the verbal instructions of a policeman who, they alleged, commanded influence in the police department.

The constables told CPO Rao Muhammad Iqbal that no body knew what the rank the policeman held as, they added, he was never in police uniform. They said the self-claimed naib moharar of the police station assigned duties to almost all the subordinates.

The blue-eyed ‘Kare Khas’ (special assistant) punished any newly recruited constable by asking him to sit in the room for the suspects (Mushtabas) if he dared disobey his orders. The ‘special assistant’ also sent the ‘disobedient’ young policemen to the lockup of the police station for some time, they added.