FAISALABAD: Some policemen have come up with a novel way to mint money from grocery shopkeepers who are not being allowed to run their businesses even during the day.

On May 8, City Police Officer Sohail Chaudhry had categorically told his subordinates that grocery stores would remain open till 6pm. However, policemen are apparently flouting both the government and the CPO’s instructions regarding business hours.

In Tandlianwala, police forced shopkeepers to pull down their shutters at 11am.Traders of the bazaar told reporters that policemen were misusing their authority and harassing shopkeepers and customers. They claimed that the City station house officer had told his subordinates to forcibly get all the grocery shops in the Tandlianwala City area closed.

The situation panicked the traders and customers. They said the policemen were requested to refrain from imposing this illegal order, but they did not pay any heed. The traders said they approached the senior police officers after which they were allowed to reopen their shops about two to three hours later.

They alleged that policemen harassed them and the customers only to mint money as the law enforcers knew that without their cooperation nobody could continue their business.

The traders demanded a probe into the issue and appealed to the officers to move against the officials who were harassing the already perturbed masses and traders.

Meanwhile, the hide and seek between police and shopkeepers continued in different areas where business activities were under way despite the lockdown.

Three cases were registered on the complaint of City Assistant Commissioner Ayub Bukhari against Chase-up store on Sattiana Road, E-Mart on Susan Road and Saleemi Home Plus in Koh-i-Noor area that were selling cosmetics, crockery and other items despite restrictions on them.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2021