PML-N, TLP workers clash over banner placement

Complainant says they not only thrashed them but also damaged billboards

LAHORE: Just a few days before the general elections, activists of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) clashed with each other in Shahdara late Wednesday night.

Police said the dispute started over posters and banners placement. The complainant, Hafiz Qari Ikramul Hassan, told police said that two TLP workers, identified as Hafiz Bilal and Muhammad Faisal, were placing pana flex billboards of the party in Street No 5 as part of their election campaign when the incident took place.



Meanwhile, the accused identified as Malik Rafaqat and others reached the spot and attacked them. They not only thrashed them but also damaged the billboards. Muhammad Azam and Malik Suleman witnessed the incident.

The complainant said he, along with other people went to settle the dispute and with the help of some people, the conflict ended. He said afterward, they went to a nearby mosque to offers prayers. Meanwhile, they heard a loud noise and soon they came to know that the accused persons' accompanied by a group of 10 to 12 men were damaging a library attached to the mosque office. When he intervened to stop them, the accused persons hit him with a heavy iron rod. Another victim also came forward to stop them but they continued beating him.

The complainant said that they belonged to TLP and the accused persons had asked them to joined PML-N but they refused. He asserted that the accused persons had attacked them after consulting with their senior leadership.

After the incident, TLP workers took to the streets in Shahdara and Fazal Park and staged a protest and chanted slogans against PML-N and its workers. Police have registered an FIR and are looking into the case.

Two days ago, a confrontation between Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and PTI workers was reported in Nawan Kot on Tuesday night.

Workers from both parties allegedly faced off in Muhammadi Kot area, beating each other to a pulp. Upon receiving word of the incident, police, including SP Iqbal Town and SP Saddar, reached the scene.



Chaudhry Muhammad Javed, an activist for PTI who contested the elections from UC-96 during the local body elections, maintained that the workers were having a meal at a public place when PML-N workers attacked them. On the other hand, PML-N workers claimed that the other party was planning to stage a political activity at a mosque.

A few of them took it upon themselves to raise the issue of the appropriateness of the venue with the PTI workers. When we told them that a mosque was not a suitable place, they attacked us, they alleged.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2018.