RAWALPINDI – Following a major highway robbery and videos posted by tourists of being harassed by locals, the Murree Municipal Corporation has stationed the Dolphin Force in the hill station to provide a safe environment and restore the confidence of dissatisfied visitors.
An official of Murree Municipal Administration told state-media that banners have also been displayed at 17 key intersections which list key numbers of the local civil administration for any sort of complaints. Moreover, a control room and a help desk has been established.
The official also rejected the ongoing social media movement #BoycottMurree, terming it propaganda against Malka-e-Kohisar.
“It is our responsibility to provide a safe environment to tourists, treat them properly and provide them with facilities” the official observed.
The Dolphin Force personnel have been deployed at all popular picnic spots in Murree to avoid any untoward incidents and if anyone registers a complaint, the force will alert the nearest police station, he added.
The #BoycottMurree campaign was launched by tourists last month after videos of locals misbehaving with visitors, beating them up, overcharging them at restaurants and motels popped up on social media.
The campaign gained momentum as scores of visitors diverted their routes and headed off to Bhurban and other resorts, in a bid to upbraid the money-driven traders.
Highway Robbery
In a rare incident, over a dozen vehicles with scores of travellers were looted in a night-long highway hold-up in Murree on the night falling between May 16 and May 17 on the Rawalpindi-Murree-Kohala (RMK) Road in Kaseri Dongi, Murree.
The location in question is located just five kilometres away from the rushy Mall Road of Murree.
According to the details, scores of residents of Murree and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) were heading to their native towns to spend the first of Ramzan with their families, when they were deprived of their valuables.
As they crossed main Murree town, their vehicles were intercepted by a gang of heavily armed robbers, who not only looted passenger vans but also private vehicles who were stuck up in the snarl up.
The matter has repeatedly been brought into the notice of senior PML-N leadership, including PM Abbasi who frequently travels through the same area to visit his native village of Deval in Murree, Express Tribune reported.
A similar highway robbery took place in the same area last year when then-premier Nawaz Sharif was visiting the hill station.
