RAWALPINDI - Regional Police Officer Capt (R) Eh­san Tufail said that officers and cops who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty are front line soldiers and asset of Punjab Police.

“Our martyrs are our pride and their sacrifices proved that Punjab Police are working diligently all the time for providing security to peo­ple’s lives and properties and they will never step back to exemplifying bravery and sacrifices in the further also,” he added. The RPO expressed these views while addressing families of martyrs after distributing cheques of ‘shuhada package’ among them here on Thursday.

The ceremony was also attended by City Police Officer Capt (R) Fais­al Rana, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Bin Ashraf, ADIG Waqar Azim, junior and senior police officers and families of martyrs Sahid Sarwar (traffic war­den), Riaz (ASI), Arif, Sajid, Mazhar, Jamil and Zafran.

Addressing the ceremony, the RPO said that the martyrs were pride of our department and their fami­lies were part of our own families. He added that the sacrifices of mar­tyred cops were tantamount to a tow­er of light for police department. He said that Punjab police had also been fighting against the enemies along with Army and other law enforce­ment agencies in the war on terror. “As many as 1,500 officers and cops have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty so far,” he said.

RPO Capt (R) Ehsan Tufail said that personnel interest on part of Inspector General of Police Pun­jab Capt (R) Arif Nawaz Khan and Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Us­man Buzdar made it possible to ap­prove the shuhada package for mar­tyrs. He said that doors of his office were opened for families of martyrs round the clock. At the end, RPO dis­tributed cheques among the families of martyrs.

Meanwhile, SP Potohar Division Syed Ali held a meeting with station house officers and directed them to arrest all proclaimed offenders in­volved in heinous crimes. He also di­rected the SHOs of his division to en­hance patrolling in their areas to curb street crime and place pickets on all the entry and exit points to keep a vig­il on the outlaws.

Separately, PS Race Course offi­cials arrested a 17-year-old boy Umer on charges of sexually assaulting his class fellow and recording objection­able scenes in a mobile phone. Police registered a case against the accused and began investigation.