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Police crackdown on PPP activists

* 600 temporarily detained before BB’s arrival in Lahore
* Police foil party’s ‘black day’ in Karachi, arrest Qaim, Rabbani

By Shafiq Sharif and Irfan Ali

LAHORE/KARACHI: Police temporality detained around 600 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activists on Sunday headed for the Lahore airport to welcome PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto who was arriving from Islamabad, sources said.

In Karachi, police arrested around 350 PPP workers who were observing a “black day” to protest the proclamation of an emergency in the country.

The sources said the police detained them at pickets set up in various parts of Lahore and released them by 4pm. They said that the police also stopped many PPP caravans heading towards the airport. However, around 1,000 activists managed to reach the airport despite police barricades, the sources added.

Black day in Karachi: PPP Sindh Deputy Information Secretary Waqar Mehdi told Daily Times that around 350 activists, including 50 women, were arrested in Karachi. Rabbani and Qaim were also arrested, PPP spokesman Jameel Soomro told AFP.

The party had asked the activists to reach Karachi Press Club (KPC) by 3pm to register a protest. However, police and Rangers personnel barricaded all routes leading to the KPC. After this, the PPP decided to change the protest venue. “The police stopped us when we reached a petrol station near Zainab Market on our way to the press club,” Rukhsana Shah, an office-bearer of the PPP Women’s Wing, told Daily Times.

However, Senate Opposition Leader Raza Rabbani, PPP Sindh President Qaim Ali Shah, members in the National Assembly (MNAs) Yousuf Talpur and Waqar Mehdi reached Regal Chowk to stage a protest. Some activists also reached there after evading the police.

At around 4pm, the police tear-gassed and baton-charged the activists before bundling them into police mobiles. Many PPP workers were injured and arrested when they protested near Regal Chowk and Zainab Market.

Police officials told Qaim Ali Shah that they (PPP leaders) could hold a press conference, but not a protest.

Earlier, Qaim said, “Our peaceful supporters had a right under the law to register their protest. Our black day is against emergency rule and the mass arrest of PPP workers.”

Member of the Sindh Assembly Nasreen Chandio, Muneera Shakir, Nargis ND Khan, Shamim Bhutto, Parveen Qaimkhani, Suraya Jatoi, Farzana Baloch, and Mehrunnissa were among the arrested women.

Qaim said via a telephone call from the Defence Police Station, “Elections under emergency rule are not acceptable.” PPP Sindh General Secretary Nafees Siddiqui, who could not participate in the protest because of police barricades, said around 1,000 PPP workers were arrested across Sindh.

Also, the Bilawal House media cell said four PPP workers were injured when police resorted to indiscriminate firing on the PPP protesters in Jamshoro district’s Bhan Saeedabad town early on Sunday.

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