LAHORE: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has announced staging a sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s House on Sept 17 against the motorway gang rape.

JI Punjab emir Javed Kasuri along with Zikrullah Mujahid, Sardar Zafar Hussain, Farooq Chauhan and Imranul Haq at a press conference on Sunday strongly condemned the gang rape of a woman in Taunsa too after Lahore.

“It seems as if there is no such thing as a government in Punjab. The rise in shameful crimes is a moment of reflection and a clear proof of the failure of the Punjab government,” Mr Kasuri said.

He said responsibility of law and order lay directly with the rulers but the law of the jungle was in force in the province. “Lawlessness has reached its peak in the province while the police are indifferent to the rising crime graph.”

Mr Kasurni recalled that the JI had proposed an amendment to the Zainab Alert Bill to hand down death penalty to sexual predators. Unfortunately, the PTI, PPP and PML-N opposed the amendment and representatives of these three parties were now shedding crocodile tears before the media.

He said Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had rightly said that the police command in the country was in the hands of non-professionals and that’s why the law and order situation in the province was precarious.

The reputation of the police had to be restored and that was possible only when the lives, property and dignity of the people were protected, the JI leader said.

Suggesting to the government to make the emergency call response system effective, he lamented at the performance of the provincial government as in just a short span of two years, five police heads had been changed with no positive results.

Quoting data, he said Pakistan was listed among 10 worst countries vis-à-vis rape incidents. He said between January 2014 and June 2017, at least more than 10,000 rape incidents were reported in Punjab alone while 3,881 rape cases registered in 2019.

“In terms of crime rate, Lahore tops the list, followed by Rawalpindi and Multan.”

Mr Kasuri demanded that all the culprits of the motorway gang rape be arrested immediately and punished sternly.

He also demanded immediate resignation of the Lahore CCPO for his inappropriate statement, arrogance and lack of initiatives taken to improve law and order in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2020