BAHAWALPUR: Police circles were non-committal on Monday about any clues to culprits involved in the attack on a mosque in Uch Sharif killing two policemen on Saturday night. But Dawn found out the district police along with other law enforcement agencies were working on information provided to some officials the same night that could lead them to the assailants.
According to circumstantial evidence, after the attack the suspects had fled towards the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar (KLP) road to get out of the jurisdiction of Uch Sharif police of Bahawalpur district.
According to sources, two of the suspects while fleeing on a motorcycle were stopped at a checkpost on the KLP road but they managed to escape. When police chased them, they fell into a ditch due to over-speeding in the Alipur police precincts. One of them was caught, while there was no information about the other one. Police also recovered from the arrested suspect an official rifle they could have snatched from one of the killed police constables, Haibat Khan.
Based on information provided by the arrested suspect, Alipur police conducted a raid on a hideout of the remaining suspects, but did not provide any details about it.
District Police Officer Sarfaraz Ahmed Falki refused to share any information, saying police teams were making efforts to identify the suspects and arrest the remaining ones. However, he added, currently there was no progress so he was unable to divulge anything. He said he was hopeful the culprits would be brought to book at the earliest.
STRIKE: Vendors and shopkeepers continued their strike at Mailiwali Gali Ramazan Bazaar on Baghdadul Jadid Road for the second consecutive day on Monday.
They were protesting against the administration and market committee, which, according to them, had forced them to sell vegetables lower than purchase rates.
The protesters pleaded that commission agents in the Sabzi Mandi be urged to provide vegetables on low prices so they could sell them on reduced prices after keeping a profit margin.
Assistant Commissioner Imrana Ajmal reached the Ramazan bazaar and talked to the protesters. She assured them the commission agents would be taken to task.
Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Cooperatives Malik Iqbal Channar during an inspection of the Ramazan bazaar reprimanded organisers and the administration for poor arrangements. He directed them to make immediate improvements and display price lists prominently. He warned them that negligent officials would be taken to task.
Published in Dawn, July 8th , 2014