ON April 6 I was traveling back to Sargodha from Lahore via Motorway after attending a marriage ceremony there. Around 11pm, I crossed Hafizabad interchange (ahead of the Sukheki rest area).

I saw that a few cars were already parked there and a man tried to stop me there. Considering him to be a dacoit, I did not stop and accelerated away.

After about one kilometre, I saw that the road was blocked by a felled tree. Sensing danger, I started reversing my car. Soon four men appeared from behind the bushes and started firing at my car.

I and my family remained safe but the car got damaged in the process. I escaped from there and joined the other cars waiting for the clearance of the road. After about 30 minutes, the Motorway police arrived and cleared the road.

There were about 20 dacoits involved in the robbery, four of whom were wearing Motorway police uniform. They had looted around 50 vehicles in 45 minutes.

The police have intentionally hidden this incident from the media, probably to avoid being in a bad spot. Strong rumours were also going around that the entire incident took place with the connivance of the police.

It is worth mentioning here that from the Sukheki rest area onwards for about 80km no Motorway police patrol was seen on that day.

The section of the Motorway between Sukheki and Pindi Bhattian is already extremely notorious for such activities. No visible steps have been taken by Motorway authorities to guard against such incidents.

The authorities concerned should take notice of the matter and question the Motorway police regarding this matter. It should also be made sure that no such incidents take place in the future.

COL (r) ATHAR RASHIDSargodhaHome:letters