TLP workers arrested

HYDERABAD:

The alleged attempt of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to disrupt Rawadari March in Hyderabad on November 23 has landed the party's local leaders in trouble as the district's police have booked dozens of them in an FIR besides arresting 16 persons.

The complainant Malik Javed Iqbal, SHO Cantt police station, has blamed TLP's Hyderabad chapter leaders in the FIR for assaulting police which prevented their alleged attack on participants of the march.

According to him, 70 to 80 persons apparently associated with the TLP who were carrying sticks, iron rods, stones and other weapons besides banners and flags of their party tried to disrupt peace and incite religious conflict in the city.

He stated that the accused persons gathered on the DC House road in the form of a rally and they later tried to forcefully enter the peaceful Rawadari march in which women, elderly persons and children were also participating.

The march was carried out to denounce plans to construct new canals on the Indus River and to demand justice for Dr Shahnawaz Kumbhar who was killed allegedly in the police custody in Mirpurkhas and whose body was later desecrated.

Some religious circles in Umerkot district had blamed the slain person for committing blasphemy.

The SHO stated that the cops tried to disperse the TLP workers and to foil their attempt to enter the Rawadari March. However, he claimed, the TLP Hyderabad's Ameer Hafiz Zeeshan Imtiaz Rabbani kept inciting the mob to attack.

According to him, even their slogans were inflammatory.

The SHO accused the party's workers of assaulting the policemen with their sticks, iron rods and stones.

He said the situation created a scare in the city about some clash between groups of people on religious grounds. The march's participants also panicked while watching this entire episode.

The police fired teargas shells and later apprehended 16 of the men who were rallying behind TLP's Rabbani. The names of all the rounded up persons have been mentioned in the FIR. Rabbani, however, escaped the arrest being among 13 persons whose names are also nominated in the FIR in addition to the 16 arrested persons.

The complainant said 40 to 50 unknown persons who can be identified are also charged in the case registered under sections 353, 341, 153, 147, 149 and 120B of Pakistan Penal Code and section 6/7 of Anti Terrorism Act.