MULTAN, April 4: Traders protesting against rise in robbery incidence were baton-charged on the Multan - Lahore - Faisalabad - Jhang Road on Sunday. The protesters had stopped a motorcade of ministers, secretaries and senior officers who were going to Khanewal to attend a meeting of the Punjab chief minister there.

The motorcade was allowed to go when senior officers assured the protesters that the culprits, involved in dacoity and robbery incidence, would be arrested soon. The traders kept their shutters down in Samijabad, Piran Ghaib Road, General Bus Stand Road, Khanewal Road and Kumharanawala Chowk on the call given by the Pakistan Traders Alliance.

They also staged a sit-in and blocked Multan-Lahore-Faisalabad-Jhang Road for four hours. They chanted slogans against the police and the administration for their failure to combat crimes and protect the lives and properties of traders who annually pay taxes of millions of rupees.

PTA chairman Khwaja Shafiq said that police could not arrest even a single culprit involved in dacoities and robberies. He warned that the traders would stage demonstrations and besiege the police stations, if immediate measures were not taken to check the incidence of dacoity and robbery.

He said there would be a complete shutter down in the city if the culprits were not arrested within 24 hours. Khalid Mahmood Qureshi said that the traders would continue their protest till the transfer of inefficient, corrupt and dishonest police officials who were providing shelter to the criminals.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association also decided to join hands with the PTA. All Pakistan Cantonment Traders Association's president Malik Nazir Ahmad Awan has also assured that shopkeepers of Saddar Bazaar would also observe strike. -PPI