BAHAWALNAGAR: Scores of people staged a demonstration on Tuesday on Fort Abbas Road against rustling and robberies and blocked the road for five hours.

They alleged a five-member inter-district gang consisting of Riaz, Alam Sher, Zaman, Ali Sher and Mumtaz stole the cattle of farmer Nasir Cheema in Chak 101-6R late on Monday.

The gangsters loaded the cattle in a pick-up but were caught when Nasir woke up and called the villagers.

The residents besieged the gang and captured Alam Sher, Zaman and Riaz with arms while Ali Sher and Mumtaz escaped.

The villagers handed over the gang and their arms to the Faqirwali police on Tuesday.

Later, scores of them gathered on Fort Abbas Road near the railway level crossing and protested against robberies in the area and police failure to hold the robbers.

They alleged the Faqirwali police had helped criminal Naeem flee one week ago. Naeem was also captured by the villagers and handed over to police.

The villagers threw traffic out of gear for about five hours and demanded senior police officials address this issue.

Asif Saeed, public relation officer to the Bahawalnagar district police chief, said incidence of theft and robbery had gone up in Faqirwali in the past few days due to the absence of the Faqirwali station house officer who was at the Punjab Constabulary in Lahore for a few days and now he had rejoined the police station.

He said they had sought explanation from Imran about the hike in crime in the area.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2015

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