By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: The local elders and members of civil society here on Thursday showed concerns over what they called the rude attitude of police and demanded of the government to take action against the ill-mannered policemen.
Talking to journalists at Swat Press Club, they said that they faced hardships owing to the rude attitude of policemen during VIP movements.
They said that local police, who were escorting a UN team, thrashed people at Bara Bandai Bazaar.
“I was going to Mingora in my car around 2pm and was stuck in traffic but all of a sudden some policemen came and started beating me. Later, I learnt that they were escorting a UN delegation.
They also overtook wrongly and stopped the traffic coming from the other side,” said Talemand Khan, a researcher and writer from Ningolai area.
He said that Swat seemed like a captured area where everyone was treated as slave while the law enforcement agencies openly violated human rights.
He said that police had no right to beat innocent civilians in such a brutal way.
The elders said that a few days ago about six policemen started beating a rickshaw driver in front of hundreds of people near Uddiyana Market in Mingora Bazaar.
Salman Khan, a resident of Mingora, said policemen left the rickshaw driver unconscious and went away like a group of villains in the movies.
The elders also complained that the police vans openly violated traffic rules and overtook on wrong side during rush hours and traffic jams.
“The drivers of police vans don’t hesitate to overtake illegally. Even if there is nobody except the driver, they violate traffic laws and move on the wrong side, blocking traffic,” said Fazal Ali, another resident of Mingora.
The elders demanded of the government and IGP to take action against the policemen, who violated laws and behaved rudely with people.
DPO Saleem Marwat, when contacted, said that he would initiate an inquiry against the ill-mannered policemen and take stern action against them.
