During his appearance on Dunya TV's show hosted by Kamran Khan, the chief minister chose to ignore the question on the CCPO's behaviour and subsequent calls for his removal. The anchorperson played an audio clip of the Lahore police chief's remarks against the woman and asked the CM to comment on it.
However, Buzdar repeatedly dodged the question and kept on saying that the government has formed a committee that would nab the culprits. It may be noted here that the CCPO was reportedly posted in Lahore on Buzdar's suggestion.
Controversy stirred by CCPO:
On Thursday, Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh questioned the choices of the rape survivor, saying the woman should have taken a different route –a less deserted one– and checked her petrol tank before embarking on her journey.
Sheikh had said that he was surprised that the woman — a mother of three travelling alone at night– chose to travel via Ring Road instead of taking the GT Road that was relatively ‘safe’.
He went on to say that if she had decided to go to Gujranwala via motorway, she should have checked her fuel tank because there were no petrol pumps on that route.
Calls for removal:
The insensitive remarks made by the Lahore police chief pertaining to the rape of a woman on the motorway prompted a strong response from social media activists, who demanded the removal of CCPO Umar Sheikh from the top post for being a ‘rape apologist’.
The statement of the police officer caused a strong reaction on Twitter, resulting in #RemoveCCPOLahore becoming one of the top trends.
Rape on motorway:
A woman was allegedly raped by two men at gunpoint in front of her children after her car ran out of gas near Gujjarpura, Lahore.
Police said the woman, a resident of Gujranwala, was returning to the city from Lahore on Tuesday night when her car ran out of petrol.
Geo News reported that the woman called her husband, who advised her to call Motorway Police for help until he got there. However, the Motorway Police operator excused from helping the woman, saying the emergency beat had not been assigned to anyone.
As she was left to her own devices on the deserted road, two armed men approached the vehicle and smashed its windows. They then took the woman and her children out of the car and took them into a nearby field after cutting the fence along the road to rape her. The report said the woman was also deprived of Rs100,000, jewelry, and ATM cards.