SUKKUR: A showdown involving police and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers was averted when the two sides almost clashed over sealing of a fuel station near Shaheed Allah Bukhsh Park in Jacobabad on Thursday.

The owner and operator of the fuel station, Aslam Abro, is a PML-N activist and contested on PS-14 seat. His brother, Akram Abro, heads a community force that calls itself the ‘Shehri Ittehad’, which wields considerable influence in the district.

A few days back, the district commissioner served notices on some illegal fuel stations asking their owners and operators to produce the mandatory licence before the district commissioner or risk closure of their commercial concern.

On Thursday, Assistant Commissioner-II Kashif Ali along with the police and Rangers personnel proceeded to the fuel station to seal it off but found a large number of angry PML-N and Shehri Ittehad activists guarding it.

They were raising slogans against the DC and the provincial government over the action.

The two brothers claimed that they were being victimised on political grounds as their fuel station was the only one being sealed among more than 50 being run in the district.

The situation grew tense when protesters warned the law-enforcement agencies against making any attempt to advance and Jacobabad SSP Malik Zafar Iqbal Awan, leading the police force, ordered them not to obstruct the LEAs in the discharge of their official duties. At one stage, protesters physically pushed back a police party, which tried to break the protesters’ shield. However, the SSP advised the fuel station owner to speak to him and the DC to avoid a showdown.

Aslam Abro kept insisting that all 35 illegal fuel stations be first sealed before touching the one he owned. He also claimed that he possessed the requisite licence.

His brother, Akram Abro, told the LEAs that he would like to speak to the DC. He, along with his armed body guards, drove to the DC office, where the SSP had already reached.

The SSP objected to the entry of the armed body guards, who appeared to be emotionally charged, into the DC office. This again led to a heated argument between them.

Rejecting Mr Abro’s all contention on this issue, the SSP got him and the guards disarmed aggravating the situation.According to an official report received late in the evening, the district administration sealed off four illegal fuel stations, one of them owned by Aslam Abro.

Before a meeting between Mr Abro and DC Raja Shah Zaman Khuhro, a leader of the local traders association, Ahmed Ali Brohi, arrived there to mediate in the affair.

He produced the valid licences of the seized arms and convinced the DC to get them restored to their owners.

After a long session, the two sides agreed to make the drive against illegal fuel stations in the district a success and the DC held out the assurance that the one owned by the PML-N activist would not be the first to be closed.

When contacted, Akram Abro said that at least 35 of the over 50 fuel stations were operating in Jacobabad without the licence but the drive was launched to victimise them [the Abro brothers] due to their affiliation with the PML-N.

He said the fuel station owned by his brother had been functioning since 1964.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play