Written explanation sought from Lahore CCPO over controversial remarks: Shahzad Akbar

Prime Minister Imran Khan's aide on accountability Shahzad Akbar on Friday said that a written explanation had been sought from Lahore Central City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh following his controversial remarks on the motorway gang rape case.

"The CCPO has warned against making such remarks in the future," he said while speaking in Geo News programme "Naya Pakistan".

Akbar said that the police officer's comments were "inappropriate" and that Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar had sought a written explanation from him.

Sheikh had blamed the victim of the Lahore Sialkot motorway gang-rape incident for going through the route that she chose and said that she should have checked her petrol tank before getting on the said route.

"I am surprised that a mother of three, a lone driver [...] after leaving Defence should have taken the straight route from GT Road — a generally well-populated area," he said.

A day earlier, Akbar admitted the government's "administrative failure" in the Lahore motorway rape case, vowing that culprits will be apprehended at all costs.

Read: 'Motorway Police is not deployed where Gujjarpura rape incident took place'

"There is some administrative failure [in the case] that we must admit since it took place on the link road that connects the two motorways," Akbar told a news conference.

Robbers gang-rape woman on motorway

On Tuesday night, it was reported that a woman was allegedly gang-raped and robbed by two men on the motorway within Gujjarpura police's jurisdiction.

The woman, along with her children, was driving to Gujranwala when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the motorway after running out of fuel, at around 1:30am. She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 from which she reportedly received no response.

In the meantime, two robbers allegedly approached the car, broke the window, and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they reportedly raped her. They also snatched her purse carrying Rs100,000 in cash, one bracelet, car registration papers, and three ATM cards.