Protests galore: 100 booked for creating traffic problems

One protest was over power supply issues, the other was held by fraudster Double Shah’s victims.

ISLAMABAD:

Around 100 people were booked in the federal capital over the weekend in two separate protests.

The Kohsar police registered a case against at least 50 people on the complaint of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) staff on Saturday.

According to the police, around 50 people blocked Jinnah Avenue in front of Blue Area to protest against Afzal Khaliq alias Double Shah. The people held banners and chanted slogans, demanding that the authorities help them get back the money they had invested with the fraudster.

ITP Sub-inspector Dilawar Hussain lodged a complaint against the protesters with the Kohsar Police. The First Investigation Report (FIR) named Mufti Anwar, Muhammad Shah, Zille Hussain, Usman Ali, Sultan Muqaddas, Muhammad Shahid, Sadiq Naroz, Atiq Sahibzada, Wahid and Idrees. Around 40 to 50 unidentified people were mentioned in the same FIR.

In another incident, the Shahzad Town police registered a case on Saturday against 10 identified and 35 to 40 unidentified people for protesting against load shedding at the Sanam Chowk near Burma Town.

According to the police, the protesters blocked the road for an hour-and-a-half on Friday to protest against power cuts. They claimed electricity had been cut in the area for days and demanded the government restore power. Police said the protesters were armed and tried to deter traffic officials from performing their duties and also assaulted the traffic staff.

ITP Sub-inspector Michael Gill lodged a complaint with the Shahzad Police Station, where a case was registered against Abdullah, Iqbal, Suleman, Gulsher Khan, Ismatullah, Bilal, Saeed Khan, Yar Muhammad, Akbar Khan, Imran Khan and around 35 to 40 unidentified people.

Police said no arrests have been made so far but they were trying to track down the protesters.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2013.