Pakistan: Turkish company employees protest police raid

ISLAMABAD

Employees of two Turkish companies in Pakistan's northeastern city of Lahore on Tuesday staged a protest against a police raid on company garages.

Police raided six facilities under use of Albayrak and Ozpak Group, which provide cleaning services, at around 2.30 a.m. local time on Monday (2130GMT Sunday). Of the six garages, four belonged to Ozpak, and two were in use by Albayrak.

The employees gathered in front of the Lahore Waste Management Company's (LWMC) office against the high handedness.

Albayrak’s Project Coordinator Cagri Ozel told reporters that police entered the workshops forcefully without any legal notice, forced the employees and their managers out on the streets and manhandled them.

He said all their belonging including mobile phones were seized and surveillance footages deleted.

"The LWMC said in a statement that they took over the vehicles according to the contract. However, under the contract, Turkish companies have no transfer obligation. Although there is a court order stating that our vehicles, equipment, and garages belong to us, this was ignored," Ozel said.

He added that such actions are hurting the resolve by Pakistani Prime Imran Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to improve bilateral trade relations.

During the protest, the employees also chanted "long live Pakistan-Turkey brotherhood" slogans. Ozpak’s CEO Nizamettin Kocamese also attended the protest.

On the contrary, LWMC CEO Imran Ali Sultan asserted that the action was legal and the vehicle fleet must be handed over to them according to the bid, otherwise they would apply for the support of civil administration.

A total of 750 vehicles, including garbage removal trucks, lorries and others are parked in the garages taken over by police.

Ozel said their service contracts expire on Dec. 31, and they did not intend to take part in a new bid.

Earlier, in a joint statement, they termed the incident as "bullying," noting that they invested approximately $150 million in Pakistan since 2012, vowing to initiate legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the LWMC has invited the companies to discuss the issue and have it settled in a "friendly" manner.

According to sources, Turkish officials have decided to attend the meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday.