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| February 17, 2006 | Friday | Muharram 18, 1427 |
Shopkeepers pull down shutters amid violence fears
PESHAWAR, Feb 16: Scared shopkeepers pulled down shutters in some parts of Peshawar city and the cantonment area on Thursday morning when rumours spread that some groups were forcing people to observe strike.
However, business started as normal in the afternoon and no incident of violence or looting was reported from any part of the provincial metropolis.
“The situation is normal despite some unscrupulous elements trying to spread rumours about the strike and demonstrations,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (operation) Saeed Khan Wazir.
He said that the Frontier Constabulary (FC) which was called in on Wednesday to assist the police in maintaining law and order after the riots has been sent back.
He claimed that they had enough strength to control any situation now.
LOSSES: Police officials said that the rioters caused a loss in millions of rupees to public and private property during the violent protest on Wednesday.
Each police station was given the task to get a rough assessment about the losses caused by rioters in their respective jurisdiction on Wednesday. Nine out of a total of 21 police stations submitted their loss estimates to Capital City Police bosses, these sources said.
The total loss was estimated to be Rs55 million. However, a senior official of the South Korean Sammi-Daewoo transport company said that the rioters caused losses over Rs200 million to the firm.
Imran Khan, in-charge of the marketing and planning department of Sammi-Daewoo, told this correspondent by telephone from Lahore that the rioters torched 16 buses, four vans, a petrol pump on the company premises and offices.
He said that they were in the process of collecting figures to ascertain the exact loss suffered by the company. However, he said: “But I can say it is over Rs200 million.”
Sammi-Daewoo Company has suspended its operations in different parts of the province after the burning of their buses. Mr Imran said: “We have also curtailed our transport services to other cities of the country and when the situation improves we will restart our services.”
The Gulbahar police, where the Sammi-Daewoo bus terminal is located, estimated the loss at Rs35 million. The Hashtnagri police estimated the loss at Rs3.5 million, the Kabuli police at Rs3 million, the University Town police at Rs60 million, the East-Cantonment police at Rs200,000, the West-Cantonment police at Rs1.4 million, the Faqirabad police at Rs1 million, the Hayatabad police at Rs100,000 and the Pishtakhara police at Rs300,000.
SCCI: Meanwhile, the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has condemned violence during the protests against the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by several European newspapers and magazines.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, SCCI President Ghazanfar Bilour and Vice President Inayat Khan said that the government should have taken measures to control violence in Peshawar, which caused huge losses to the business community.
They demanded of the government to compensate the traders’ community and chalk out a plan to control such situations in future.
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