Weekly crime roundup: City unites against terrorism after Moon Market attacks

Source: Daily times

* Traders union estimates losses from attacks at around Rs 30 million
* US nationals refuse to have vehicles checked

By Rana Tanveer

LAHORE: The unprecedented number of casualties of last Monday’s blasts at Moon Market united the city against terrorism.

The attacks left more than 60 people dead and more than 150 injured.

Lahoris from all walks of life have been visiting the blast site and praying for the deceased. It was observed that all the visitors expressed anger towards the terrorists responsible for the blasts, expressing solidarity with the country’s security forces.

The Punjab government has made a special investigation team to probe the attacks, however, no breakthroughs or arrests have been made.

The blast site was cleared on Sunday, with personnel of the Water and Sanitation Agency, Solid Waste Management, and Lahore Electric Supply Company only having to wash the structure of the damaged buildings today (Monday).

A team of Work Department engineers also visited Moon Market in the week and examined the structure of the burnt building to decide if it needed to be demolished or renovated. Arif Siddiqui, general secretary of the Moon Market traders union, told Daily Times the engineers had yet to complete their survey, adding that renovation would be started in a few days.

Loss: The traders union has estimated that the attack had resulted in a loss of around Rs 30 million. Siddiqi told Daily Times the summary had been approved by the Lahore district coordination officer, Lahore commissioner and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah. He said the summary had been sent to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who would “hopefully approve it within a couple of days”.

Giving details about the traders who had been affected by the blast, Siddiqi said 119 owners of various stalls and carts had been adversely affected, while 63 shopkeepers had completely lost their businesses.

US nationals: Meanwhile, US nationals were brought under the spotlight as two separate incidents of checking of cars belonging to US nationals were reported in the city last week.

In each of the incidents, the US nationals refused to let security personnel inspect their vehicles.

Security forces impounded a vehicle carrying US nationals in cantonment for having a fake registration number and handed it to police for further investigations on December 11. However after the intervention of the US Consulate, the US nationals were released although the car is still in police custody. On December 13 another incident took place when US nationals traveling in a vehicle refused to be checked at Egerton Road. However, after negotiations with US Consulate officials and searching the vehicle, security forces released the nationals. A similar incident took place on December 13 when security forces stopped a car near Sherpao Bridge. The occupants of the car were British nationals working for a non-governmental organisation. The British nationals were shifted to an undisclosed location and later released after their documents were verified.