RAWALPINDI: Rubina Akbar was withdrawing her husband’s monthly pension when the Basali post office was robbed by four armed men on Friday, who escaped with over Rs1 million after locking their hostages inside the post office building.

Like many other pensioners, Ms Akbar collects the pension cheque in the first week of every month. On Friday, Ms Akbar was only robbed of her mobile phone, as she managed to hide the pension money under her shawl.

She said she was at the post office on Oct 7, when four unidentified individuals walked into the post office and pulled out their guns.

“The robbers snatched money from post office employees and deprived me of my mobile phone. Before leaving, they pulled down the iron grill and locked the building from outside, taking the keys with them,” she said.

According to the postmaster, Qasim Majeed, around Rs1.3 million was stolen, which included the pensions, deposits and savings of local residents.

Thieves made off with over Rs1m in just 10 minutes; postmaster complains of ‘insecurity’ going back to work

Bansali is a densely-populated village, home to around 5,000 residents, off the GT Road. Its post office has no CCTV cameras or security guards and the closest law enforcement presence – at Rawat police station – is 15 kilometres away.

Mr Majeed said he had previously written to his department, asking for a security guard and CCTV cameras, but was still waiting on a response.

Ever since the robbery, Mr Majeed said he felt insecure coming to duty. Recalling the moment that robbers threatened him, three of his colleagues and customers with death if they did not give up the cash, Mr Majeed said that one of the armed men had locked the main door while the other three searched drawers, lockers and cupboards.

“They upturned drawers, searched cupboards and threatened me and my staff to give up the cash,” Mr Majeed said. “I tried to stand up and one of the robbers asked his accomplice to shoot me, so I sat back down out of fear for my life.”

He said that after the robbers fled, post office employees exited the through the building’s emergency exit and shouted to people to stop the thieves, but they had already vanished. He said the robbers only took around 10 minutes to ransack the post office and escape.

The acting station house officer of Rawat police station, Sub-Inspector Javaid Akhtar, also said the post office lacked CCTV cameras and a security guard, which was a violation of standard operating procedures.

He added that the post office had previously been served a notice for its lack of security. SI Akhtar said police were working to locate the robbers and recover the stolen money.

Majid Ali, a local resident who accompanied his mother Shamim Akhtar to the post office on Friday, was also on hand when the robbery took place. In his statement to police, Mr Ali said four unidentified individuals dressed in shalwar kameez entered the post office and pulled out guns.

“I asked the robbers to return my mobile phone, and one of them replied that I would find it lying outside after they escaped,” Mr Ali said, adding that the robbers had escaped on two motorcycles.

“The post office was where we deposited our hard earned money, got our pensions, and even deposited our utility bills. But now that it has been robbed, we are afraid that our homes could be next,” said Basali resident Mohammad Javaid.

Located centrally in the village, the post office is surrounded by small shops and houses. Across the building is a sacred pond and to its left, a banyantree.

According to locals, Sikhs used to bathe in the sacred pond, which is now filled with dirty water. “Sikh devotees still visit this place when they come to Hassanabdal,” said one villager.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2016