LAHORE: The Punjab police have estimated huge damages exceeding Rs1,900 million (Rs1.9 billion) in the wake of four riot incidents which took place during the last two years, mainly during the May 9 violent attacks in 2023, and total injuries to over 500 police personnel.

In a detailed report sent to the Punjab government through the home department, the central police office (CPO) revealed that the protesters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) damaged a total of 142 police vans and nine multi-storey buildings in the four events so far which required a significant repair and reconstruction work to make the buildings fully operational.

While assessing the financial loss against the damaged vehicles, the police department came up with the whopping figure of Rs117m, providing details of all the police mobiles and other vehicles, including those completely burnt by the protesters when they had thrown the petrol bombs in most parts of Punjab.

The report further said a policeman and four citizens also lost their lives during the protests, submitting claim for the compensation for the riot victims and the specific damages caused to the police resources, saying the provincial police can’t bear the loss ‘in isolation’.

Clashes with PTI activists erupted on May 9, 2023, Sept 28, Oct 4 and Nov 26 in 2024; report suggests introduction of anti-riot regulations

The Punjab police report said the violent events took place on Sept 28, Oct 4 and Nov 26 in 2024 besides those occurred on May 9, 2023. (A copy of the report is also available with Dawn). The report has marked Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Mianwali and Attock, the cities where fierce clashes had erupted between the supporters of Imran Khan, leaving majority of the police personnel deployed to maintain the law and order injured, many of them seriously.

It added the loss to the exchequer was assessed on the basis of the detailed reports prepared and sent by the districts’ police to the CPO.

The heads of the investigation, operations and legal branch of the Punjab police got the assessments verified before sending the same to the provincial government.

The Punjab police authorities also stressed upon the government to introduce anti-riot regulations to avoid the huge loss in future.

The event-wise statistics shared in the report declared the May 9 attacks alone as a nightmare for the Punjab police.

The report said four citizens lost their lives, and 169 police personnel were injured in the violent attacks. Similarly, the Punjab police estimated a loss of Rs1,800m it has suffered when the protesters attacked and damaged nine police buildings and Rs112m for destroying 97 police vehicles on May 9.

The protests carried out on Sept 28, 2024 damaged 21 police vehicles amounting to Rs2.29m, besides leaving 28 personnel injured, some of them seriously.

The report stated the police suffered a loss of Rs1.98m during the clashes with the PTI workers when the latter attacked and damaged 18 vehicles on Oct 4 across the province besides injuring 37 personnel.

On Nov 26, the data shows, 267 personnel were injured by the unruly protesters and caused a damage of Rs1.17m when they attacked and damaged six police vehicles.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025