Independence Day celebrations: ineffective role of Dolphin Force, PRU witnessed

Ineffective role of police officials, particularly Dolphin Force and Police Response Unit (PRU), in controlling charged youngsters doing aerial firing, one-wheeling and harassing families was witnessed during the 73rd Independence Day celebrations in the provincial capital.
A handful of youngsters blocked main arteries in the city by dancing over loud music and carried out aerial firing, one-wheeling and used fireworks in "public" during the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday night. Similarly, the youngsters blocked Main Boulevard and Gulberg and carried out aerial firing and one-wheeling under the nose of police officials who did not bother to take action against them.
At the Liberty Market, the youngsters were seen dancing over a loud beat of music installed in their cars, jeeps, vans, pickups and even in motorbikes. Of them, some people carried out fireworks on Main Boulevard, putting a question mark over the safety of the people by and large. They also paralyzed all sort of vehicular movement for hours-long.
Likewise, a group of youngsters also paralyzed vehicular movement on Canal Road as some of them lay down on the road to perform dance but the police officials deployed there could not dare to clear the way.
Mohammad Awais Mirza, a citizen, criticized the security arrangements saying the Dolphin Force was not seen patrolling effectively. "When I went out of home with my family, I noticed absolute absence of Dolphin Force personnel patrolling within the congested places such as Liberty Round About where charged youngsters openly used weapons," he regretted. Before the Independence Day, the police department had warned that a strict action against the individuals taking law into their hands but the situation on ground was totally otherwise, he added.
Another citizen, Haider Abbas, said: "I saw a group of youngsters riding motorbikes and shouting slogans of "Pakistan Zindabad" and hurling abuses at females in a car." Many people who went out to see the glittering markets or places were sexually harassed by youngsters and the police officials remained silent, he added.
According to him, some youngsters by stripping of their cloths and painting national flag on their bodies harassed many families on various roads and there was no one taking action against such type of persons. "These types of incidents occurred only due to the mismanagement of police."
"When I was going to Township Market for some personal work, a police official intercepted my bike on Model Town Link Road and asked me to give "Eidi" if I wanted to go," alleged another citizen, Ali Raza. He said his bike had original number plates and signals except "tanki tapay" for which the police official demanded Eidi. First, he added, the police official told his subordinate to impound my bike but after the requesting repeatedly for around 15 minutes I secured my release by giving Rs 200. He alleged that he was not the only one who secured his release after paying illegal gratification.
Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Ashfaq Khan said the city police have registered 20 FIRs after arresting 26 individuals for doing aerial firing.
Similarly, the police also arrested 485 persons and registered 379 FIRs against one-wheelers. Of them, 193 wheelers were arrested from Sadar Division, 38 from City Division, 125 from Model Town, 112 from Cantt and 17 from the Civil Lines.
The senior police officer said 75 FIRs were also registered against 96 suspects for illegally collecting hides. In our crackdown against drug peddlers, the police seized 1,896 liters of liquor and registered 38 FIRs after hunting down 42 persons, he added.