Law and order: Protestors demand release of labour leader

Muhammad Ashfaq was arrested on Friday for his role in a terrorism case.

FAISALABAD:

Scores of people from Sadhar Sector staged a protest demonstration on Saturday against the police for arresting a labour leader, Muhammad Ashfaq, who had been declared a proclaimed offender in a terrorism case.  

The protestors blocked Jhang Road and demanded that Ashfaq be released immediately.

Else, they said, they would besiege the offices of the city police officer and the regional police officer.

Khalid Mehmood, one of the protestors, said, “The police have implicated Ashfaq in a false case because he is raising a voice for the protection of labourers’ rights.”

Mehmood said Ashfaq had been taken to an undisclosed place. “For all we know police may have killed him in a fake encounter,” he said.

The protest ended when Saddar Circle DSP assured the protestors that the police would act in accordance with law.

Police spokesman, Aamir Waheed, said Lyallpur Town CIA in-charge Shahid Sarwar Alvi and his team raided a house on Friday and arrested Muhammad Ashfaq, a resident of Chak 67-JB, for his role in a terrorism case.

He said, “A local parliamentarian had called the police to release the arrested labour leader.”

He said when the police refused to do so, the parliamentarian instigated the people to stage a demonstration.

Reluctant to disclose the name of the parliamentarian, the police spokesman said, “We have dispatched a report to police high-ups.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2013.