Daily Times

BAHAWALPUR: At least seven robberies were reported in the city on Monday-Tuesday. Two citizens were reported injured in those incidents.

Statistics available with Daily Times show that 4,071 crimes were reported in the city in the last six months.

Officials in the Police Department speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said that the number of crimes reported in the past six months was more than the prior six-month period. They said an upward trend had been witnessed in crimes in the area, particularly in the last two months.

The crimes reported most frequently were those of snatching of handbags, mobile phones, cash and jewelry.

They also said that most of the city police stations were headed by junior-ranked officers like sub inspectors. They said, this was in violation of department policy.

They said senior officers were discouraging them from lodging FIRs on serious crimes like robberies and to under-report figures.

They said the tradition of open courts had been discontinued depriving citizens of the opportunity to express their grievances with senior officials

Several citizens spoke to the Daily Times and expressed their dissatisfaction with the performance of law enforcement officials in the city. They said the current leadership of the Police Department in the city had failed to control crime. The citizens had lost confidence in the ability of the police to maintain law and order in the city, they lamented. They said it seemed that most of the police resources were being spent on provision of security to government officers, foreigners and very important personalities (VIPs).