Conflicting statements expose officials’ ‘efficiency’

LAHORE: Contradictory statements of senior officers of the Lahore Police and the IG Motorways in Gujjarpura gang rape incident have exposed the coordination among law-enforcement agencies.

On the second day of the incident, CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh said the victim had not called the police herself for help. Some of her relatives called the Motorway Police at 1:30am. On the other hand, IG Motorway Kaleem Imam said that the victim called the Motorway Police at 2:01am. She was told that the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway does not fall in their jurisdiction.

However, the Motorway Police forwarded the call to the FWO immediately. The lady didn't get any help from the FWO either. Later on, the claim of the Dolphin Force surfaced that they received 15 calls at 2:49am and reached the spot at 2:53am. A cop of Dolphin Force said as he reached the spot, the woman was stunned. She didn’t speak. She mustered up courage after some time and then told the whole tragedy.

The Gujjarpura police in its FIR stated that they reached the spot at 4am and didn’t find anyone there. A senior police officer requesting anonymity told The News that factually the Lahore Police and the Motorway Police had delayed the response over jurisdiction. He said the Safe City Project was launched after spending billions of rupees for a well-coordinated response and surveillance but the recent incident has exposed it as well. He said call logs should be made part of investigations and strict action should be taken against the responsible persons.