FAISALABAD: As many as two dozen traders of a fruit and vegetable market observed a shutter-down strike on Monday in protest against the killing of a vegetables dealer in a robbery.
They said they would continue their strike till the police caught and arrested the killers of Mehr Muhammad Saeed, the vegetable dealer.
Kareem Bakhsh, one of the protestors, told newsmen that Saeed, a resident of Sir Syed Town, and his son Muhammad Aamir were headed home on Sunday night when armed robbers on a motorbike stopped them at Jhang Road.
“The robbers took away their money and mobile phones,” he said.
He said the robbers shot Saeed over resistance. He said Saeed was taken to a hospital where he died.
He said traders had asked police many times to increase patrolling around the market but their request had been ignored. “Saeed was killed within a few yards of the fruit market,” he said. “The robbery could have been prevented there been was some police presence.”
Thikriwala Station House Officer Mian Abid said the police had registered a case on the complaint of Muhammad Aamir and started investigations.
He said a police team had been formed to trace the robbers.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2014.