Post curfew: Clash between two groups averted

Refusing to budge for small procession, traders stage sit-in.

RAWALPINDI:

Life returned to normal in the garrison city on Tuesday amid heavy deployments of security officials after an armed clash occurred in Tench Bhatta in the jurisdiction of RA Bazaar Police Station. No casualty was reported in the incident.

A group of mourners wanted to take out a procession and were asking traders in the area to shut their businesses but they refused. The groups exchanged harsh words and were on the verge of violence.

Some of the protesters on both sides also displayed weapons and began firing. Only four policemen were present at the time of the protest, however, a heavy contingent led by Potohar SP Haroon Joya reached the locality in time to control the situation.

Later, army personnel also reached the site and cordoned off the area. The traffic police also diverted vehicles to other routes after the sit-in started.

Traders were demanding the arrest of those who fired at them. However, the police opened the road after Joya assured traders that action will be taken against the miscreants. The police did not allow the mourning procession to pass through the area. Later, traders opened the road and shops.

On the other hand, traders of Madina Market also staged a sit-in after they were not allowed to visit their shops as army personnel cordoned off the area and were not allowing anyone to enter, even the traders. Security personnel did not allow people to visit the burnt market during the clashes.

Traders from other markets also participated in the sit-in to express solidarity and demanded that the government compensate shopkeepers as soon as possible. Most traders of the city did not open their stores either due to fear of protests or in solidarity with their fellow traders. On the other hand, the committee set to assess the losses held a detailed meeting with traders. Talking to The Express Tribune, Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajiran President Arshad Mehmood Awan said the committee urged the traders to cooperate. “We asked them to provide maps and size of their shops so they could be reconstructed and handed over to them.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2013.