MINGORA: Shopkeepers and public transport drivers here on Thursday alleged that Saidu Sharif police had started filing cases against them without telling them about their fault or offence.

Talking to this correspondent, they claimed that Saidu Sharif SHO came in a mobile van and took the national identity cards from different rickshaw drivers and asked them to visit the police station later.

“When we asked about our fault he got angry and ordered us to visit the police station later in the day,” said Zafar Ali, a rickshaw driver, adding that when he went to the police station to get his CNIC nobody knew about it.

“The next morning when I visited the police station to get my CNIC the moharar told me that you have been fined Rs1,500,” he said and added that he was a rickshaw driver and had no money to pay for an unknown violation.

Taj Mohammad, another driver, said that he had parked his rickshaw in front of his house when a mobile van stopped and a policeman asked to give him the CNIC. “The police took my CNIC and asked me to visit Saidu Sharif police station. When I went there they had fined me but did not tell about the violation,” he claimed.

Similarly, shopkeepers in Saidu Sharif complained that the local police came to their shops and issued tickets of fine to them without any reason.

Attuallah, traders’ president in Saidu Sharif bazaar, said that checking food products for quality and cleanliness was the duty of food authority.

Adovcate Jahanzeb Nafees, chairman of Swat district safety commission, said that police could not take CNIC from any driver without telling him about his fault. He said that imposing fines on shopkeepers regarding food quality or cleanliness was the duty of food authority.

When contacted, DSP Peer Said made it clear that he would inquire into the matter and take action against the police officials, if found guilty of law violation.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2018