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IGP mum over vital question

Posted on: Thu January 28, 2010

LAHORE: Punjab Police Inspector General Tariq Saleem Dogar has said the complaint of the Col (retd) Ikram s family intending to nominate the Punjab chief secretary in the FIR has been entertained as a supplementary statement. Addressing a press conference at the Central Police Office on Wednesday, the IGP said it did not look appropriate to nominate the chief secretary in the FIR as his vehicle, which ran over Col (Retd) Ikram, was being driven by his driver. Clarifying the position of the chief secretary, he said the chief secretary had later visited the hospital where Col (retd) Ikram was taken for medical aid. However, the IGP could not give any answer when asked why the chief secretary left the scene instead of taking the injured Ikram to the hospital and handing over the accused driver to the police. When asked why the police did not impound the chief secretary s vehicle, the IG said the vehicle was already in the custody of the Sarkar (government), so they deemed it in their custody. It may be mentioned that that there is no provision of law that could allow the CS to continue his travel despite the fact that his vehicle had accidentally hit a man. Also no law allows the driver to leave the accident site. The fact that the chief secretary s driver was arrested a few days later speaks volumes of violation of law, and raises questions: Was the CS, who is the highest administrative official of the province, unaware of the law? Should not he have stopped there, called the police himself, left his vehicle at police disposal, and handed over his driver, who was arrested a few days later, to the police? Which law allows the chief secretary s driver to continue his journey? Was not it for police to take control of the situation and act according to the law? Why police bacame a complainant themselves? The IG could not justify the act of the Sarwar Road police when told the aggrieved family was denied access to the police station, as the custodians of law had locked the main gate. Gate should not have been closed, he maintained. Replying to another query, the IG said the media had played a key role in making the arrest of the culprits involved in murder of Shazia. He said the police had immediately registered a case against the culprits soon after the complainant approached the police. He believed that the court of law would do justice and the lawyers would not use their influence in the said case. He said a medical board had been constituted to ascertain the cause of her death. However, the final report is yet to be finalised, he added. On the issue of terrorism, he said members of defunct organisations were involved in terrorist acts. Special teams had been made to trace the culprits involved in the subversive act in Sherakot. About shoulder promotions, he said the department had 40 percent shortage of SPs and DSPs, that was why senior officers had been promoted as SPs and DSPs. He said 224 cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered in 2009.

Courtesy : The News