Pakistan cops tell 17-yr-old world champ 'you won the medal for yourself', detain him for playing snooker late at night

Chandigarh, August 5

Advertisement

Pakistan’s under-21 snooker world champion, Ahsan Ramzan, was arrested on Thursday night by the Lahore police for playing snooker at a club.

According to the 17-year-old champion, he was practising snooker at a club at College Road in Township, Lahore, when police from a local police station entered the club and detained him and the club owner.

While talking to Dawn.com, Ramzan said the cops “asked for the club to be closed and moved all those playing and training there outside”. He said the cops did not listen to them when they said that the club remained open all night and there were security cameras and guards and that nothing wrong had been done.

Ramzan and the club owner were asked to accompany the cops to the police station. At the police station, the cops allegedly misbehaved with Rahman and detained him for 15-20 minutes. It was only after his friends came to the police station and protested that he was released.

Later, the snooker champion released a video message urging PM Shehbaz Sharif and Inspector General (Punjab) to take note of the incident. He said when he told the cops that he is a world champion, the cops said, “You won the world championship for yourself.”

The actions of Lahore police have garnered criticism. People have taken to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the arrest. Another video is going viral on social media in which former Pakistan cricketer Wahab Riaz is seen consoling a crying Ramzan.