Haripur police had caught a trader and sent him to jail on his refusal to meet their demand of five million rupees. The trader brought a number of Chinese investors to Pakistan for investment in different sectors of economy.
Talking to reporters, the trader, Imran Hanif, who has been running a trading company in China for the last six years, said that police demanded of him Rs 5 million for release, but he rejected. The Chinese investors went back to China as conditions were not conducive for investment in Pakistan.
He said he had been bringing Chinese investors to Pakistan from time to time and to persuade them to invest in various fields to accelerate trade activities between the two countries and increase in investment in Pakistan.
He said he had brought three Chinese investors to Pakistan on August 25, who studied investment opportunities in various fields in Gujranwala and Kasur. He said he kept the Chinese investors in Islamabad but he himself went to his ancestral village in Haripur.
"I had a flight to China on September 3 and also had booked ticket for it and I was at village on September 2 when armed local police officials in plain clothes stopped my vehicle and asked for documents." He said SHO Haripur and other police officials took him to DSP office and from there to Haripur Jail, but the Jail authorities refused to accept the detainees without judicial order.
"After some time, the jail authorities, after having been influenced by some one, imprisoned me in the barracks of some dangerous prisoners."
"When my friends in Haripur Chamber of Commerce and Industry came to know about my arrest they met the District Co-Ordination Officer. They were told that I had been mistakenly arrested", he said. "In the jail I was not allowed to meet anybody, nor had any facility of telephone", Imran said. He said he was released after intervention by Haripur Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials who met DCO Haripur for release.
Imran said that during his stay in prison the Chinese investors, who were in Islamabad, went back to China, whereas his thousands of rupees tickets expired beside undergoing mental torture. He said due to the illegal action of police he could not hold important meetings with Sri Lankan businessmen, causing financial loss.
He said he was going to China for business. He said the Chinese investors lost confidence in Pakistan due to such maltreatment and misbehaviour by Pakistan police and administration with traders. He demanded of high judiciary, Advisor on Interior and provincial officials to take stern action against the responsible police officials.