RAWALPINDI: A police official was hospitalised after allegedly being beaten by army personnel over a petty issue on Monday.

Adnan Younus was on duty at the army-police joint picket at FWO Chowk, Gracy Lane, when he stopped a van loaded with fruits and vegetables.

“Since I was suffering from a stomach disorder, I bought some bananas for Rs20 from the driver and returned to my duty point,” the policeman told Dawn from the emergency ward of Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

He said as he returned to his duty, one of the armymen asked him whether he had paid for the fruit or not. “I told him that I had paid and if he had any doubt he can ask the driver,” Adnan said, adding the driver also said he had paid. Adnan said though he tried to convince the armymen that he had paid for the bananas, they asked him to appear before their senior officer. “They took me to the office of a major who used abusive language against me and accused me of corruption.”

The policeman said he asked the officer if he had any complaint he should report it to the senior police officers instead of abusing him. “As I was leaving the office, I found six personnel around me who beat me,” he alleged.

The policeman first went to the office of the regional police officer and then the city police officer but none of them was in their office.

Later, he approached SSP (operation) Malik Karamat. Though the SSP was also out of his office, he talked to his subordinates on telephone and asked them to shift the injured to the BBH.

Soon after the incident, police officials were withdrawn from all the seven joint checkposts in protest. However, later senior police officers held a meeting with army officers to sort out the issue. Later, SSP Malik Karamat and SP Potohar division Attique Tahir visited the hospital and recorded the statement of the injured. CPO Israr Ahmed Abbasi told Dawn that the matter had been resolved. “Police will investigate the matter and fix the responsibility,” he added. When a senior officer of the FWO was contacted, he said though the allegation of the policeman was not in his knowledge, such incidents are common in our society.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2016