Police brutality: PAT protesters take to the streets in K-P

Demand FIRs against Punjab CM, interior minister and officials involved in assaulting activists.

PESHAWAR/MANSEHRA: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Minhajul Quran’s workers protested in different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday after eight of their party workers were killed in Lahore.

Dozens of supporters of Tahirul Qadri in Lahore were assaulted by the police when they resisted the removal of barricades protecting Qadri’s house in Model Town. The issue had cropped up Monday night. Ensuing clashes left eight people dead and around 80 injured.

Reacting to the police brutality, around 100 people gathered on Sher Shah Suri Road in Peshawar, led by PAT provincial head Khalid Durrani and provincial vice president Syed Sajjad Shah.

Protesters held placards against both central and Punjab governments, requesting the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of the incident. “We will never be in peace till we are given justice,” said Durrani.

Commuters in the city were forced to figure out alternative routes as the protest resulted in traffic jams.

Mansehra

PAT workers led rallies across the district, condemning the killing of their colleagues and police brutality.

They said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government has failed on every front and had “resorted to the politics of violence” as a last resort.

Protesters demanded the registration of an FIR against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Minister of Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali and the police officials who ordered firing and tear gas on peaceful demonstrators.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2014.