PM’s aide admits ‘administrative failure’ in motorway rape case

LAHORE: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability, Shahzad Akbar, admitted the government’s “administrative failure” in the Lahore motorway rape case, vowing that culprits would be apprehended at all costs.

“There is some administrative failure [in the case] that we must admit since it took place on the link road that connects the two motorways,” Akbar told a news conference, flanked by Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh.

Akbar defended the Lahore police chief’s statement which raised a lot of eyebrows after the cop blamed the rape victim for her choice of route and travelling late at night. “I see an unneeded controversy was created out of the CCPO’s earlier statement,” said Akbar. “I have spoken to him about it, he will tell you himself what he meant by it.”

The PM’s aide acknowledged it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that roads, motorways, streets and highways were safe for men and women to travel. “If a case such as this takes place, it is also the government’s job to arrest the culprits and make an example out of them,” he said.

Responding to a question about the person who had filed the complaint of the rape, Akbar said it was not appropriate to disclose the identity of the victim or the person who had filed the case. Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh told the media that expert foot trackers had been brought in to help with the investigations. Responding to criticism earlier on his statement, Sheikh said he was hurt over the incident hence he had suggested that precautions should be taken. “I have said that this is our responsibility, and we will solve it,” he said.

On Tuesday night, it was reported that two robbers had gang-raped a mother of two on the motorway within Gujjarpura police’s jurisdiction. The woman, along with her two children, was driving to Gujranwala in her car when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the motorway after running out of fuel, at around 1:30am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 from which she reportedly received no response.

In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window, and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children. They also snatched her purse carrying Rs100,000 in cash, one bracelet, car registration papers, and three ATM cards.