Maryam, other PML-N leaders booked for holding Minar-e-Pakistan rally

The Lahore police have registered a case against dozens of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders and workers, including the party's vice president Maryam Nawaz, for holding public gathering on Sunday at Minar-e-Pakistan in violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) against the novel coronavirus – the pandemic which is affecting scores of lives as the second wave hit the country hard.

The first information report (FIR), which was lodged at Lari Adda police station on the complaint of security in-charge of the Greater Iqbal Park, contained 15 charges including violation of Covid-19 SOPs, sound system act among others.

Senior PML-N leaders – including Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan, Khawaja Asif, Talal Chaudhry, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Ayaz Sadiq, Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah – and several others have been named in the FIR.

The police have also nominated stick-carrying 'personnel' clad in Khaki uniform deployed for security of the opposition’s rally in Lahore.

The development comes a day after an alliance of 11 opposition parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), set January 31 deadline for the government to quit or else they would jointly march on Islamabad to force it to resign.

According to the FIR, Malik Wasim Khokhar stormed the venue along with 125 party activists and desecrated sanctity of national heritage.

According to the officials, the damage to Greater Iqbal Park has reportedly been estimated to be around Rs7.2 million after the PDM’s Sunday rally.

The city's Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) has decided to recover the amount for damages from the opposition alliance and has also decided to take action under the Land Revenue Act, 1967.

Political workers associated with the PDM reportedly vandalised park infrastructure, including breaking iron fences, locks and gates of the venue.