‘It was not police vs police-like situation,’ Punjab IG says after GB top cop removed

• Nothing happened as media reported, IGP Anwar says.
• "Police forces will ensure law is implemented," he says.
• "Leniency should not be considered as weakness."

LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar on Thursday rejected the reports that the police force of Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan police came face to face during the Zaman Park operation.

Speaking to Geo News, IGP Anwar said it should not be considered that the personnel of one province fought with the force of another province.

"We are all servants of the state," he said, adding the security staff of the GB chief minister and another minister came outside during the police action but nothing happened as reported in the media.

The statement from the Punjab Police chief came after GB Inspector General of Police (IGP) Muhammad Saeed was transferred following Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb's claim that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan used the "GB police force" against the Punjab Police.

It was reported that when the police reached Khan's residence in Zaman Park to arrest him, they came face-to-face with the GB police who trained guns at them after which the Punjab Police retreated.

GB CM Khursheed Alam, however, denied the claims.

When asked to comment on the matter, IGP Anwar clarified that no such incident occurred at all, and assured that a security force from one province would never fight its counterpart from another.

"There's no civil war. All the police forces will ensure that the law of the land is implemented."

Responding to a question regarding the implementation of the Lahore High Court order, the top cop said a meeting is scheduled with the leaders of PTI at 5pm in which they will be briefed in detail about the situation.

The court has clearly directed us to ensure the rule of the law and they have to inform it tomorrow.

"We have been directed to ensure that there is no no-go area in the city," the police chief said, adding that "police's leniency should not be considered its weakness."