SUKKUR: Businessmen, traders and mill workers took out a rally in Jacobabad and blocked the nearby section of the Sindh-Balochistan road for hours on Saturday over increasing incidents of robberies, dacoities, theft and other crimes in the city.

They condemned the indifference and inaction on the part of the police in controlling crime and demanded replacement of SSP Syed Amir Abbas Shad with some competent officer.

Amid several days of unrest among the business community, leaders of trade organisations and factory workers, Larkana DIG Nasir Abbas has taken notice of the situation and asked the SSP to explain his position, sources said.

The unrest prevailed in different areas of Jacobabad over the last few weeks due to increasing incidents of crime in the city and finally people took to the street on Saturday after police remained unmoved over snatching of Rs4 million from a businessman, Bhajan Lal Batra, by three armed robbers riding a motorcycle at Pathar Morr within the limits of the City police station three days ago.

The victim claimed that he kept informing the area police about location of the robbers but without any response.

Mr Batra, along with a delegation of businessmen led by a prominent civil society leader and philanthropist, Haji Sher Mohammad Leghari, approached the Larkana DIG and complained about the poor performance of the Jacobabad police. The DIG issued necessary directives to the SSP and held out the assurance that the culprits would be arrested and the booty recovered from them soon.

On Saturday, businessmen, traders and mill workers took out a rally from Anaj Mandi and, after marching through various roads, blocked the Sindh-Balochistan road with burning tyres and junk to protest against failure of the police to control crime in the city.

Haji Mashooq Kharani, Bhajan Lal Batra, Saeed Ahmed, Abdul Sattar Jakhrani, Sikandar Kehar and Abdul Ghafoor Khokar led the rally.

They told the media that life and property of citizens were not safe due the indifference being shown by the police towards criminal activities. They claimed that outlaws were particularly targeting affluent Hindu businessmen and traders who dominated businesses in the city.

They also accused the area police of not laying hands on criminals in lieu of bribe.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2023