Mob burns Khanqah Dogran police station

SHEIKHUPURA: A police station in Khanqah Dogran was torched on Saturday after police clashed with protestors angry at the inclusion of their town in the recently upgraded Nankana Sahib district.

The protestors and police accused each other of setting fire to the police station, whose main gate and portico was burnt. The protestors later stormed the police station and destroyed furniture and equipment.

Residents of Khanqah Dogran were protesting for the fifth consecutive day after their town was taken out of Sheikhupura district and included in Nankana Sahib. “Sheikhupura is just 35 kilometres from here while Nankana Sahib is a hundred kilometres away. This decision of the Punjab government will create lots of problems for us,” said one protestor. Thousands of protestors gathered on the main Lahore-Sargodha road to protest the decision on Saturday. As the rally marched towards the police station, a large police contingent blocked the road. “We were protesting peacefully but they fired shots into the air and baton-charged and tear-gassed us,” said Safdarabad naib nazim Sardar Asif Dogar, who led the rally. “They injured several protestors, including former MPA Mushtaq Hussain Dogar.”

Police said they had asked the protestors to disperse peacefully but they refused, after which they fired warning shots to scare them away. However, the police action angered the protestors further and they started throwing stones at the policemen.

According to protestors, some policemen rushed into a mosque with their shoes on and fired volleys of tear gas shells at them. Soon after, flames were seen rising from the police station. staff report

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