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Sindh, Punjab police trade fire in Pakistan, several Punjab cops arrested

by hussain | November 2, 2008 at 01:26 am

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In an interesting but dangerous development, the policemen of Pakistan's two provinces on Sunday traded fire and later the police from Sindh, the home province of President Asif Zardari, arrested several cops belonging to the Punjab, the largest province of the country. The clash apparently took place over wheat smuggling, which has become a contentious issue between the largest wheat producing province, Punjab, and other provinces, particularly Sindh and North West Frontier Province (NWFP), in wake of the recent wheat flour crisis in the country.

Sindh police have arrested six Punjab policemen including one ASI after registering a case on the charge of shooting to injure one person near here.

Obaro SHO, Manzoor Chandio said that a cultivator Shabbir was carrying diesel on tractor trolley at the Sindh-Punjab border, when the Punjab policemen posted at Daowala check post of Tehsil Sadiqabad signaled him to halt and fired on defiance injuring Shabbir. Following the incident, Obaro police cordoning off the check post arrested Punjab police inspector, Imran Khan, constables Sajid Jat, Muhammad Shahid, Faisal Khan, Zubair Quraishi and Majid Dho y registering a case.

On the other hand, Rahimyar Khan DPO, Muhammad Tahir Rai told that the person injured by Sadiqabad police firing was smuggling wheat, but the Obaro SHO said that the tractor trolley was within the boundary of Sindh and Punjab police illegally took the action.

After the recent flour crisis in the country, the commodity is selling at exhorbitant rates in the NWFP and Sindh province.

Despite Sindh Food Department’s fixed flour retail price of Rs26.50 per kilo, it is being sold across the province at Rs36/38 per kilo.

Flourmills Association and the provincial food department a few days ago in a meeting had enhanced the ex-mill rate by Rs3 per kilo for stabilizing the price of flour in the city, while it was decided that the retailers would be selling flour at Rs26.50, but this arrangement has come to a total failure, as the consumers are still being forced by the shopkeepers to buy flour at Rs36/38 per kilo. On the other hand, following utility stores’ enhancement in the price of flour by Rs3/4 per kilo, flourmills have also raised their flour price by Rs3, piling miseries on the consumers.