LAHORE - Police succeed in preventing a suicide attempt by unarming and arresting a 23-year-old desperado to end a repeat of the Islamabad-like one-man standoff, near the Shimla Hill here on Friday.
The hopeless youth threatened to shoot himself allegedly over a fractured ‘love-affair’. Police investigators told reporters that the desperate lover, identified as Kamran, a resident of Nisbat Road, was under the heavy influence of liquor when the episode unfolded.
The youth has been put behind bars in the Qila Gujjar Singh police station. The police have also registered a criminal case against the man on the charges of attempted suicide, terrorising people at a public place, keeping an illegal weapon and resorting to aerial firing, a police official said. The policemen also gave a good thrash to the man before putting him in the lock-up.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the youth forced his entry into the office of a private airlines company as he wanted to see his girlfriend. The man took out pistol and threatened the staff when they asked him to leave the premises as the girl did not want to see him.
“The gunman’s action terrified the girl who locked herself up in the office toilet and did not come out during the entire episode,” a police officer said. The police was called by the office staff as the drama lingered on. The man came out of the office and held the pistol to his temple and threatened the police to stay back. Policemen tried to cool him down but to no avail.
 In the meantime, a policeman pounced on Kamran, who triggered a gun shot. Luckily no one was hurt and the gunman was overpowered. The episode ended comparatively early, unlike the Islamabad show when the security forces appeared hesitant to act swiftly. The Islamabad drama, to reiterate, had ended after a politician had taken on the armed man there.
Apart from TV crews, a good number of people also gathered at the Lahore scene. After a good beating, the man was later taken into custody. The police, in another good show, protected the identity of the girl, who was later shifted home safely.
According to the accused, he was in a ‘relationship’ with the girl and both would contact over the cell phone, and that the girl had promised to marry him. A few days ago, according to the self-proclaimed jilted lover, she stopped talking to him, which compelled him to visit her work place. He also accused her father of being against their marriage plans. Further investigation was underway.