Kasur Indemnity

IT appears from a petition submitted by the inhabitants of Kasur to His Honour the Lieutenant Governor that an indemnity amounting to about a lac and a half of rupee has been imposed on the residents of that locality. The grounds on which the petitioners pray for a withdrawal of the order demanding the indemnity are similar to those urged by the inhabitants of Gujranwala to whose case we referred in a recent issue. It is pointed out in both the petitions that the respective localities were notified as “declared areas” subsequent to the riots. It appears, therefore, that an important condition, which must be fulfilled before indemnity can be levied under section 15 (A) of the Police Act, has not been satisfied either in the case of Gujranwala or in that of Kasur. Apart from this aspect of the matter, there is the higher point of view of expediency.