LAHORE, Dec 6: The authorities concerned have yet to take any action against the DSP and his subordinates who were involved in assaulting a newsman at the Punjab Civil Secretariat on Nov 30.

Two constables in uniform and 10 other plainclothesmen had abruptly seized and thrashed Dawn reporter Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui at the secretariat's main gate when he tried to enter the premises along with reporter of English daily, Anwer Husain Sumra.

According to S&GAD additional secretary (welfare) and DSP (security) Yar Muhammad Dogar, the entry of Dawn staffer was banned by the chief secretary for having published a news story on the extortion of money from visitors by the policemen at the secretariat during Ramazan.

The Punjab chief minister had ordered suspension of all the security personnel deputed at the main gate of the secretariat. He had further ordered that the personnel be removed from service if found guilty after an inquiry. The chief secretary had first appointed the S&GAD additional secretary (Admn) as inquiry officer with a direction to complete the probe in three days.

Later, the additional chief secretary directed the finance department deputy secretary (Resources) to probe into the matter who refused to initiate inquiry for personal reasons. All the policemen at the secretariat main gate had been 'transferred' to different police stations and no action was taken against them.