GUJRANWALA, Sept 15: The victim of murder or any other heinous crime apart, even the complainants are now facing more threat to their lives than ever before thanks to the police’s failure to track down the culprits who get encouraged to commit crime after crime.

The incidence of killer(s) jeopardising the life of complainant in a murder case has been on the rise as the police admittedly fail to capture the wrongdoer and provide protection to the heirs.

Information gleaned by Dawn reveals that there are more than 3,000 proclaimed offenders in Gujranwala district alone and they hardly feel any reluctance in improving their crime record under the blessings of influential figures.

In the wake of such reports, the district police had tasked almost all SHOs to prepare the lists of proclaimed offenders and launch campaigns to arrest them instantly.

Zafar Abbas Lak, a former Gujranwala DIG, had admitted before the Supreme Court that the POs across the range were being provided shelter by some influential people.

The police have failed to arrest the killers of PPP city president Chaudhry Khalid Humayun, Anjuman-i-Tajran president Sheikh Zulfikar Cheeniwala, noted jeweller Muhammad Nadeem, and union council nazims — Liaquat Mehr and Mehr Ata Khaliq.

Besides, the murder of a person who was pursuing the killings of his mother and two sisters by the main culprit points to the apathy of the police who in this particular case had failed to arrest the wrongdoer even during the last three months. They had registered a triple murder case against the suspects who were later declared POs.

That the culprits were not away from the police eyes and still not arrested could be judged from his audacity that he displayed while killing even the fourth member of the family to stay away from any action.

As for the PPP city chief’s murder, the police have failed to arrest former MPA Mehr Muhammad Saleem (the main accused), former fruit and vegetable market commission agents’ head Chaudhry Muhammad Siddiq and his two sons. They have already been declared proclaimed offenders.

Also at large are the dacoits who snatched gold ornaments and Rs2.5 million in cash from jeweller Nadeem and later killed him on resistance last year.

As for the murder of People’s Colony UC nazim, the police could arrest only one accused, Imran. While the abduction of two sisters of Naushera Virkan remains a mystery as the police have failed to recover them despite the Supreme Court order. A reward of Rs100,000 had been announced for informer(s) by former DPO Dr Arif Mushtaq.

DPO Mian Muhammad Asif has asked the SHOs to arrest the POs and court absconders to arrest the POs.