BAHAWALNAGAR: The district bar association (DBA) on Saturday registered their protest over the poor law and order situation across the district, boycotted the court proceedings and warned the district administration of expanding their demonstration if the situation deteriorated further.

A press release issued on Saturday said the incidence of robbery was rising in the city and the people were feeling a sense of insecurity. To protest against this condition of law and order, the DBA members would stop court work after 11:30am and would stay away from proceedings, it added.

Talking to the media, DBA President Kashif Khakwani and several other bar members said despite recording protests by the area people against the alarming rise in robbery and theft incidents, police not only failed to stop the criminal activities but they also turned a deaf ear to the demands of the citizens for improving the law and order situation.

The president said the lawyer community was forced to raise their voice to show solidarity with citizens.Several citizens including Ahmad, Bashir, Fayaz Awan, Imran and others said no one was safe in the city and the robbers were targeting houses and markets not only in the dark but in broad daylight on a daily basis.

Apart from several incidents of robbery and thefts in the past few days, a government schoolteacher, Zahid, was tortured and robbed of his motorcycle and cash by armed men in broad daylight in the limits of Minchinabad police station when he was on his way home from school, one of the locals said.

He said residents of Bahawalnagar, Chishtian and Fort Abbas tehsils had also been facing the same situation for the past couple of days and the administration was doing nothing to control the situation.

He said police officials were allegedly trying to hide these incidents and not registering cases despite repeated complaints and protests.

On the other hand, district police officer’s spokesperson Adnan Ali while declaring the law and order situation under control said, “everything in the area is going fine”.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2022