The policeman stood on the road holding his son, shouting his price to people passing by. Here’s why.
A video emerged only on Wednesday, November 17, of a man dressed in a police uniform exhibiting his desperation on camera. Accompanied by his two small children, the man is shouting at the top of his voice standing in the middle of a busy main road.
The cop shouts to people passing by that he is selling his kid and calls out a price of 50,000 Pakistani rupees. As per the man, he had no other choice as he needed money for bribe. This bribe was asked by his boss in order to grant his request for a leave to get his child treated for a medical condition. Here is the clip shared on Twitter:
گھوٹکی کے پولیس اہلکار کو بچے کے علاج کے لیے چھٹی نہ ملی اور لاڑکانہ تبادلہ کردیا گیا، چھٹی لینے اور تبادلہ رکوانے کے لیے افسران کو پچاس ھزار روپے رشوت دینی پڑے گی، اہلکار پچاس ھزار میں ایک بیٹا بیچنے کی آوازیں لگاتا رہا۔
ہائے انسانیت کہاں pic.twitter.com/i9hRF7IsNQ— Sheikh Sarmad (@ShSarmad71) November 13, 2021
The desperate citizen in the depressing video is reportedly named Nisar Lashari. He is a policeman in the Ghotki district of Pakistan’s Sindh province and is posted in the prisons department. The video went viral and local media soon caught hold of the story behind his desperate act.
The cop told a global digital news outlet that helplessness led him to ask passersby if they would buy him. Lashari had reportedly applied for a leave of absence for medical purposes. However, his seniors did not approve his leave and instead asked for a bribe. Lashari was then reposted in another city called Larkana around 120 kms away.
He was quoted by the media outlet as said, “Why did they give me this punishment just for not paying a bribe? I am so poor that I could not even travel to Karachi to file a complaint with the inspector general of prisons. The people here are so powerful and there is usually no action taken against them.”
“Was I supposed to pay off bribes or pay for my child’s operation? Was I supposed to work in Larkana or was I supposed to take my child for treatment?” he continued, explaining that the act caught on cam was out of desperation. He said, “At the time I was not thinking about anything except my situation. But looking back, I’m not surprised that the video went viral. It’s the social media age, news travels so quickly.”
As the video went viral, Lashari’s plight came into public light. Finally, Sindh’s chief minister Murad Ali Shah intervened. The policeman was reinstated in his earlier posting and also given a 14-day leave for his son’s medical procedure.
