LAHORE/ FAISALABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) staged demonstrations in various cities of Punjab on Wednesday. The activists and leaders clashed with the police, resulting in several arrests, according to the police and party sources.
The PTI staged a demonstration in Faisalabad, with workers gathering at the Clock Tower Square. The district administration had imposed Section 144, banning all public gatherings, rallies and political meetings. The police sealed the entry points to the eight bazaars surrounding the Clock Tower and deployed heavy contingents at key junctions. Roads leading to the city’s entry points, including highways and motorways, were also blocked to prevent the movement of protesters. However, shops and markets in the main commercial areas remained opened as usual, and the traffic flow remained normal.
PTI Punjab President Hammad Azhar participated in the protest, leading a rally near Chiniot bazaar, leaving the scene as soon as police initiated a crackdown. Clashes between the PTI workers and law-enforcers escalated, with police using tear gas to disperse the protesters, who responded by pelting stones. Heavy police deployment continued at Ghanta Ghar and surrounding areas.
Several PTI leaders, including MPAs Nadeem Sadiq Dogar, Nadeem Aftab Sindhu, Junaid Afzal Sahi and Rana Ahmed Mujtaba, were arrested during the protests. Police also detained PTI members Khayal Kastro, Asad Mahmood and Javed Niaz Manj as they attempted to reach Ghanta Ghar. More than 500 PTI activists were arrested across the city for violating Section 144 till evening and after that, the protesters dispersed.
In Toba Tek Singh, all roads leading to Faisalabad, including all interchanges of Motorway M-4, were completely closed to prevent the PTI activists from going to Faisalabad to participate in the PTI demonstration. The highways, including Toba-Gojra-Painsara-Faisalabad Road, Rajana-Samundri-Faisalabad Road, Gojra-Jehangir Mor-Faisalabad Road and Kamalia-Mamukanjan-Faisalabad, were closed.
Crackdown on the PTI activists continued all day and six were taken into custody at Toba, Kamalia, Gojra and Pirmahal.
Other cities where the Punjab government imposed Section 144 included Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Mianwali, Chiniot and Jhang. All forms of political gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, protests and related activities were banned. Some cities were sealed with containers.
Internet and mobile-phone services were also suspended in Mianwali and two companies of Rangers were deployed in the city. The PTI had announced a protest in Mianwali on October 2 on the directive of PTI founder Imran Khan. More than 100 PTI workers were booked for violation of Section 144 while five were arrested. Later, the police dispersed the protesting PTI workers and restored vehicular traffic in Mianwali. A PTI MPA from Kehror Pacca was also arrested by the police on Wednesday. PTI’s women supporters also staged a protest in Bahawalpur.
Meanwhile, a meeting of PTI’s parliamentary party decided to stage a demonstration at Islamabad’s D-Chowk on Friday (tomorrow). The parliamentary party meeting, chaired by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, also decided that a special and “trained” vanguard would reach the jalsa venue ahead of the caravans. The CM himself would lead all the protest rallies marching on Islamabad, the meeting decided.
Separately, Central PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said on Wednesday Imran Khan had not only become the leader of Pakistan but also the leader of the Islamic world.
Talking to the media during his appearance in the accountability court, he said like every true Pakistani, he and his family were standing firmly with Imran Khan. He said the current political instability in the country was the result of not recognising electoral mandate of the PTI. He said the key to politics in Pakistan was still in the hands of Imran Khan.
“We have full faith in judiciary. Soon, Insha-Allah, Imran Khan will be among the people again,” the former chief minister Punjab said adding that by ending the health card scheme due to enmity towards Imran Khan, the Punjab government was pushing thousands of poor patients to death every day.
Elahi said the farmers of Punjab had gone bankrupt today and there was no one to help them in the province.