“Small people occupying big offices. This happens when there is no merit in selection of Police”
Punjab police has reportedly arrested 12 men suspected of involvement in the alleged gang-rape of a woman on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway.
Two “robbers” allegedly raped the woman at gunpoint on Wednesday while she was waiting for help on the motorway after her car developed a fault.
“Such incidents are against our social values and an ugly stain on our society”: PM Imran Khan
“We as a society are failing our women and children”: Leader of Opp. Shehbaz Sharif
“Our manifesto is to create a society where, whether it’s day or night, women/children would feel safe whether they are alone or with family”: Punjab CM Usman Buzdar
“There is also an administrative failure which we should admit”: Adviser to PM Akbar
The case was being turned into a “meaningless controversy”: Lahore Capital City Police Officer Sheikh
A police official said as the woman crossed the toll plaza on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway, her car stalled either due to shortage of petrol or some fault.
Meanwhile, she got a call from a relative in Gujranwala, who asked her to call the police helpline for help while he also left from home to reach her. When he reached the location, he found the woman terrified with her clothes stained with blood.
A police official said two armed men found the woman alone, took her and her children to a nearby field at gunpoint and gang-raped her, adding that police had formed teams to trace the culprits.
Initial medical reports of the woman had also proven that she was raped.
“So far 12 suspects have been arrested and search is going on,” said Punjab government spokesperson Mussarat Cheema.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the sexual assault of the lady in Lahore as well as that of a five-year-old child, who had been murdered and torched after being raped in Karachi, which surfaced on Sunday.
“The protection of women is the government’s foremost priority and responsibility. Such brutality and savagery cannot be allowed in any civilized society. Such incidents are against our social values and an ugly stain on our society,” a statement released by PM Office said.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar vowed that justice would be delivered in the case. “Our manifesto is to create a society where, whether it’s day or night, women/children would feel safe whether they are alone or with family.”
PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif urged society to “at least stand with the victim and acknowledge the real problem”.
He said the incident should be dealt with “collective and mutlipronged action”.
“We as a society are failing our women and children,” he remarked. “For starters, at least stand with the victim and acknowledge the real problem. Yet another horrible incident calls for collective & multi-pronged action… NOT a knee-jerk response!”
Later in the evening, prime minister’s adviser Shahzad Akbar said “There is also an administrative failure which we should admit”. While talking to reporters alongside Lahore Capital City Police Officer Umer Sheikh. Akbar, who is adviser to the prime minister on interior and accountability, also addressed the air remarks made by Sheikh — where he suggested that women should be careful while leaving their homes and traveling late at night.
It was being turned into a “meaningless controversy”, Sheikh said.
“Because she is a french National, that’s why she did it (traveling late at night with 3 kids)…she thought she is in France”, Sheikh told local media.
“She should have taken GT Road…“
Sheikh said the case will be resolved and become a “classic example”.
But twitter is abuzz with #RemoveCCPOLahore trending in Pakistan.
“Small people occupying big offices. This happens when there is no merit in selection of Police,” a tweet by @DevelopmentPK said.
An overseas Pakistani professional living in Paris when asked to comment says, “We still have low literacy rate and all such things which come to the fore when you have been facing terrorism for more than a decade.”
“Still, rule of law must override all matters.”
Another Pakistani expat in U.S. said, “We’re a growing nation”…”the incident is condemnable though and the lady deserves justice. “An example be set on the seriousness of such incidents from rule of law point of view,” he added.
Meanwhile, some 20 teams of Lahore Police and CIA, headed by the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police (investigation), had been reportedly constituted to investigate the rape incident.
A spokesman of the motorway police said the tragic incident did not occur in the limits of the motorway police as “Ring Road and Lahore-Sialkot Motorway are not with the motorway police.”
Dawn, Express Tribune
