JUI-F leader, 10 others booked for disrupting Women March

ISLAMABAD: Kohsar Police on Monday registered a case against 12 people including local religious leaders and JUI-F's Maulana Abdul Majeed Hizravi for trying to disrupt Women March in the capital.

On Sunday, a person was injured after participants of the march were attacked by some people who shouted slogans and pelted stones at them. The rally was being held in a designated area outside the National Press Club when the incident took place. Police had to intervene to control the situation before it escalated.

The FIR names 11 leaders – and 300 to 400 unidentified persons – including Maulana Shabir Ahmed Usmani, Maulana Hafiz Maqsood Ahmed, Maulana Rizwan Makki, Mufti Abdullah, Maulana Abdul Waheed Qasmi, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Tauheedi, Maulana Liaquat Ali Turabi, Maulana Nasir Ahmed, Maulana Asadullah Abbasi, Maulana Abdul Majeed Hizravi and Maulana Abdul Razzaq Haidri.

According to the FIR, the leaders incited violence against participants of Women March, after which some people pelted stones at the marchers. The miscreants had illegally occupied the road across the National Press Club, the FIR reads, adding that they also tried to enter the premises of the march by using force against security officials present there.

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat shared a copy of the FIR on Twitter. The Islamabad DC said an FIR would be registered against those who disrupted the March. “After inquiry people will be arrested. The Islamabad police worked very hard to ensure that situation stays in control but a few elements broke the law and they had no NOC,” he wrote on Twitter. Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had also vowed action against “those who attacked the peaceful protesters with stones, sticks”.