By IANS
Islamabad : Traders and shopkeepers around the Lal Masjid here have accused the police of helping themselves to soft drinks, ice cream, aerated water and foodstuff while enforcing curfew during the nine-day operation.
While drinks and edibles from deep-freezers in shops in Sector G-6 went missing, traders at Melody Market also complained of “disappearance” of their goods. They want to be compensated for the losses calculated at Rs.55 million ($950,000).
It was a double loss for the music/video parlours that were earlier raided by stick-wielding boys and girls studying at the two seminaries attached to the mosque – all of them now in a rubble after the operation.
The Melody Market Traders Union has alleged that the law enforcement agencies stole eatables after breaking the locks of freezers and refrigerators placed outside the shops.
Munir Mughal, chairman of the traders’ union, further accused the law enforcers of taking away furniture worth Rs.2 million from the market.
The shopkeepers protested Friday night and put up banners outside their shops, asking the “culprits” to pay up, the Daily Times said Sunday.
Shopkeeper Mohammad Sarwar said he had two deep freezers full of soft drinks and ice cream outside his shop but “unidentified people” had emptied them during the curfew.
He said only the police and the Punjab constabulary were deployed in the curfew area and alleged that the police were involved in the theft.