RAWALPINDI: The mother of Junaid Pervez reacted with an outrage when an official from the Morgah police station reached her house and took away her son and put him behind bars for not getting his tenant registered with the police in line with the 21st amendment to the constitution.

According to the new law, the owners of hotels and inns are bound to submit the lists of their guests to the police within three hours while the owners of houses should inform the police about their tenants within 48 hours of renting out the house. The new law empowers the police to arrest the owners if they fail to register their tenants with the police.

Mr Pervez worked in Dubai along with his father and had recently returned home to look after his mother. His father is still abroad to earn his livelihood.

Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, a resident of Morgah, also faced a similar situation. He had rented out his house 10 days ago but could not inform the police, claiming he was not aware of the new law. As a result, he was also arrested.

The two men were produced before a local court which sent them to the judicial lock-up till February 16.

“The challan of the cases were submitted to the court within 24 hours in line with the new law. The judge sent both the citizens to the Central Jail Adiala,” a police investigating officer told Dawn.

He said now it was up to the court to either sentence them to up to six months in jail or fine Rs100,000.

The two cases were the first registered with the Rawalpindi police against the owners of houses for not intimating the police about their tenants.

Under new law, a house owner should submit details of new tenant to police within 48 hours

Some citizens said the government move to register the tenants was aimed at bringing the property owners into the tax net as most of them did not pay tax on the income they earned by renting out their houses.

A senior police official, who did not want to be named, added: “There is lack of coordination between the intelligence and law enforcement agencies.” He said the police were taking action against those violating the ban on use of loudspeakers, not getting their tenants registered with the police and using unlicensed arms and displaying weapons only after the Special Branch report to them.

The police believe that the registration of cases against those violating the ban on the use of loudspeakers had produced good results and the registration of cases against them would also reduce the crime rate.

In other parts of the province, public awareness campaigns regarding the submission of particulars of tenants of houses or any other buildings, including hotels and inns, were launched through pamphlets, banners and the cable network. However, the police have started a crackdown on the owners of houses and other buildings without initiating any such campaign in the Rawalpindi city.

On the other hand, critics say the government’s efforts to curb terrorism should be appreciated but its approach towards the citizens would leave a negative impact because a majority of the people are unaware of the new law. Therefore, there is a need to launch a vigorous campaign to educate the people either by their representatives or though banners, media. They should be given a deadline before starting arresting them, they added.

Published in Dawn February 14th , 2015

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