LAHORE: The PML-N has expressed concerns over an increase in the incidents of assault on women, especially in Lahore, demanding resignations of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Law Minister Basharat Raja.

“The chief minister and law minister are responsible for deterioration of the law and order situation in Punjab; therefore, they should step down forthwith,” PML-N Punjab information secretary Azma Bokhari said here on Saturday.

She said the CM had removed some police officers from their posts over the Minar-i-Pakistan incident to cover up his own inefficiency.

“In the last three years, Punjab has witnessed bad governance of Buzdar,” Ms Bokhari went on to say.

On Friday, the Punjab government had removed the Lahore deputy inspector general (DIG) operations, the senior superintendent of police (SSP) and a divisional superintendent of police (SP) from their posts and suspended from service two other officers in the wake of criminal assault, humiliation and harassment of a woman TikToker by a mob at Minar-i-Pakistan on Aug 14.

Azma Bokhari further said the women of the country were feeling unsafe because of the rise in the harassment incidents. During a week or so, over a dozen women had faced assault and such incidents were a question mark over the performance of the Punjab police.

“The working women are especially feeling highly insecure while going to their work and the Punjab government is responsible for this.”

The PML-N leader said that in a country where the prime minister (Imran Khan) blamed the dress of women for their rape, such incidents saw a rapid increase.

“Violent behaviour of the government functionaries has encouraged the perverted youth to indulge in women assault,” she lamented.

Ms Bokhari also chided the Punjab government for paying no attention to the out-of-order cameras of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority, saying the government came to know about this after the shameful incident of Minar-i-Pakistan.

Reacting to Ms Bokhari’s statement, Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja said it was not appropriate to call the law and order situation in Punjab ‘bad’ on the basis of irresponsible actions of an individual or some persons. He said no concession would be made to any person involved in molesting women, including those in the Minar-e-Pakistan incident. He said the PTI government had shown exemplary performance in bringing high profile cases to a logical conclusion in accordance with the law.

“Those who talk about safe environment for women should not forget the Model Town incident in which pregnant women were killed by firing,” Mr Raja said and added that Azma Bokhari, who proclaimed to be a champion of women’s rights, should have demanded resignation of the then chief minister (Shehbaz Sharif) and the law minister on that (Model Town) brutality.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2021