LAHORE, Nov 20: District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood held his maiden open kutchery in front of the historic Shalamar Gardens on Tuesday amid chaos and confusion.

The open kutchery held by the District Nazim to emulate Mughal Emperor Jehangir in front of his favourite garden was no better than a mockery of his exemplary justice as it only exposed his helplessness to redress the grievances of the public against police.

He could not pass even a single strong order against any police official and was content with holding out assurances in respect of redressing the grievances of over a dozen male and female complainants.

Interestingly, he asked many of the complaints to go to the police concerned against whom they were having complaints.

In his brief introductory address, he promised that similar kutcheries would be held in all the towns in the provincial metropolis in the near future to solve the problems of the people at their doorstep.

The venue for holding of the open kutchery was not ready by 11:30am, the time fixed for the purpose, as the organizers noted that the stage was covered by a wedding canopy instead of a simple shamiana usually used for holding public meetings. The canopy was promptly replaced by a shamiana and the proceedings of the open kutchery commenced at 12:15pm in anticipation of the arrival of the District Nazim who turned up a few minutes later.

Speaking on the occasion, Mian Aamir Mahmood said that the city government had spent the two and half months of its existence planning for a better future for the people. The police had spent the time preventing holding of public meetings and rallies with the result that the public grievances expected to be redressed at the DSP and the police station level had remained unattended necessitating the holding of open kutcheries by him for solving the problems of the people on the spot.

He said that all the police officers in the city should follow the example set by SSP Aftab Cheema and start sitting in the verandahs of their offices to allow the general public to bring their grievances to their notice without any hindrance. The timings for such public hearings should be notified in the police stations and police officer’s offices. He said that his doors were always open for the people whose grievances were not redressed at the police officers’ level.

Disorder prevailed over the meeting when the Nazim invited the women to come forward and present their grievances. The women rushed to the stage to present their applications and started raising hue and cry to be heard first. Men also joined the scramble. Mian Aamir passed brief orders on over a dozen applications directing the complainants to approach the police officials once again to get their grievances redressed. Those left unheard by 2:05pm were directed to visit the Baghbanpura Police Station with their applications.

Mian Aamir assured a man carried to the stage with a plastered leg that the Shafiqabad police officials accused of breaking his leg and depriving him of thousands of rupees at the Mughalpura Lal Pul would be booked for armed robbery. He said that he would talk to the health secretary for issue of a medical certificate in case the doctors concerned refused to do so. The man said that the police had not registered a case against their colleagues who robbed him and were pressuring him to come to terms with them.

He told a representative of the Baghbanpura Warraich Council that the people responsible for killing one person and injuring 12 by causing a bomb blast had been arrested and booked for murder and possession of explosives and investigation was in progress against them. He assured Ashraf Bhatti of Baghbanpura that he would be provided police protection and Elite Force would be used for the arrest of the murderers of his sons. The complainant threatened that he and his family members would commit suicide in case the police failed to arrest the sons of Noora Kashmiri who murdered his sons in the Baghbanpura Police Station lock-up four years back.

Mian Aamir Mahmood assured Muhammad Siddiq that the ASP would restore the possession of his shop. He also held out a similar assurance to Rani Bibi who informed him that some people had ejected her family from their residence and they were forced to live under a tree. He advised Manzoor Fatima and Nasira to approach Baitul Maal and Zakat Committee for financial assistance. He told Ghulam Nabi Awan, a former employee of the engineering university, that his complaints against the university authorities in respect of ejecting him from his residence would be looked into.

He assured Abdul Ghafoor of Baghbanpura that inquiry in respect of the murder of his son would be transferred. He advised Muhammad Afzal of Yahya Park to approach the police station concerned to get back the possession of his plot. Complainant S.M.Rafi was informed that efforts were being made to arrest the culprits responsible for depriving his car driver of Rs600,000. He assured Lady Councillor Yasmin that complaints of women would be heard at the Baghbanpura Police Station once a week. —MUHAMMAD ASGHAR