The gang-rape of a mother who was travelling in her car along with her two children on Lahore-Sialkot motorway speaks volumes about governance in Punjab.

How can a province with a population of 120 million be governed when its chief executive cannot get along with police chiefs and has removed five of them within a span of two years?

It is evident that he does not possess the ability or the acumen to lead the province. The law and order situation is in tatters and the morale of the police force has touched a new low. Criminal elements in our society take advantage of such an inept government.

This state of affairs prevails because Prime Minister Imran Khan insists on retaining the incumbent chief minister.

This takes me back many decades when the prime minister was captain of our cricket team.

He retained Mansoor Akhtar, a cricketer who never delivered when required. Mansoor was part of two World Cups, 1983 and 1987. He played eight innings and scored just 108 runs at an average of 13.5 runs per innings. The prime minister’s stubbornness in retaining a non-performing chief minister will cost the PTI heavily come the elections.

Jaffar Naqvi
Lahore

(2)

The gang-rape incident near Lahore toll plaza on Sialkot-Lahore motorway needs immediate attention of the authorities in many ways. Since its inauguration in March, this section of the motorway has been in the news for one reason or the other.

On this 91km motorway, there is no deployment of motorway police, no rest area, no petrol pump, no washroom, no drinking water facilities, and so on and so forth.

There are many illegal u-turns on this motorway which pose a serious risk to travellers’ lives. At places, the damaged fence allows the local bikers to make their way to travel on the motorway. Apart from the recent rape tragedy, this pathetic condition can cause accidents in the future as well.

This is the time to review and implement motorway management standard operating procedures to give commuters a safer and better travelling experience.

Muhammad Saqib Zafar
Sialkot

(3)

WHILE the shock that we received from the news of the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl had barely subsided that the incident of a young woman gang-raped on the motorway between Lahore to Gujranwala in front of her children has shocked us.

Has our society lost all morality and ethics?

To make matters worse, this portion of the highway has no security because it has not been assigned to the motorway police. Just think of the trauma inflicted on the victim and her children.

I am a pediatrician. When I examine the private parts of young children less than 10 years old, there is so much resistance on the part of child that I have to counsel and reassure them. All this is done while the parent is sitting close.

One can imagine the anguish and suffering the minor child who was raped as well as the young mother. The monsters who commit such heinous acts need to be dealt with severely.

Dr Mumtaz lakhani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2020