Lahore: Police in the spotlight after brothel list fiasco

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Paragon takes fight to DHA over land dispute g PHA officials beat up authority’s director general
* Police yet to arrest man accused of killing girl after victim’s parents refused marriage porposal

By Rana Tanveer

LAHORE: City police faced a week of widespread criticism by the media and the public, after it issued a ‘fake and outdated’ list of 445 brothel houses in the city and announced an immediate crackdown against the establishments.

Police had alleged the ‘brothel houses’ house terrorists and announced that their operators and other entertainers would be punished in accordance with the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). The city police head had issued the list of 445 ‘brothel houses’ with their addresses last Sunday, a move that invited criticism from both the local media and the police high ups. The authenticity of the list was questioned when police, during the crackdowns, discovered that most of the premises mentioned in the list did not house brothels. Despite arresting at least 100 people from different hotels and rest houses, none of them were charged under the ATA.

Muhammad Azhar, an advocate, told Daily Times that the list was baseless. He said issuing the list before the crackdown meant the police had only wanted to boost its own image, adding that most of the brothel operators may have shifted their businesses elsewhere after seeing the list.

DHA versus Paragon: Also, a dispute between the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Paragon Housing Scheme, over the ownership of 12 kanals of land, resulted in Paragon suffering a loss of Rs 5 million at the hands of over a 100 DHA personnel. The Paragon management lodged a first information report (FIR) against DHA under sections 342, 427, 379, 148, 149 and 337 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The DHA officials accused in the FIR registered with Barki Police - DHA security incharge Maj ® Aslam and Billu Derh – have been granted interim bails.

PHA accused: An FIR was registered with the Racecourse police station on Thursday against 40 employees of the Parks and Horticulture Authority for assaulting the authority’s director general and other officials during a protest. Police have only arrested five of the men mentioned in the FIR, with the rest granted interim bail.