Tangled web we weave: Police action targeted anti-state elements says Sana

‘Qadri had posted his civil militia around the Minhaj Secretariat for 10 days’.

LAHORE:

The nation should be aware about the facts behind the police action at the Minhajul Quran International Secretariat, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said at the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday. “It was a targeted operation based on alarming intelligence reports which proved to be correct.”

The law minister was speaking on a point of order after the opposition protested the police action at the Minhajul Quran Secretariat on Tuesday in which eight people were killed. Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rashid had asked Sanaullah to explain why police action had been taken.

Sanaullah said the action was not simply about removing blockades or encroachment in front of the secretariat and Tahirul Qadri’s residence. “The barriers had been there for years. There had even been court cases on the issue.” The fact is that Qadri’s supporters had created certain “no-go zones” that had to be cleared, he said.



Sanaullah said the blockade in front of Qadri’s house and secretariat had been manned by contingents of Punjab Police. However, recently after Qadri announced that he would return to Pakistan, his followers had forcibly removed the contingents and deployed their own civil militia instead.

“It had been 10 days since Qadri’s civil militia had taken over the security blockades in the area. The police were forbidden to enter these areas,” he said.

In the days leading up to Qadri’s arrival in Pakistan from abroad, police and intelligence officials had noted that a lot of mysterious vehicles and armed men had begun gathering inside the secretariat, the law minister said. He said they had also learnt that the Minhaj officials were administering oath to Qadri’s followers by placing their hands on the Quran, making them swear to rise up against the state. They took an oath to create a system of anarchy and chaos in the country.

Never in Pakistan’s history had Qadri ever fought for democracy, and yet he claimed he was an enemy of dictatorship, Sanaullah said. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party had sacrificed lives for democracy, which Qadri wanted to destroy.

He said Qadri’s tactics of administering oath to thousands of innocent followers and to decide the fate of the 180 million people of Pakistan was condemnable and unacceptable for the governments at the centre and in Punjab.

On Tuesday, the police first politely asked Qadri’s followers if they could enter the no-go zones and remove the barriers. Qadri’s workers resisted and shot at the police, he said. “Reports that Qadri’s residence and the Minhaj Secretariat had become a state within a state had proved correct.”

He said the police had footage and evidence of Qadri arming his followers to bring about anarchy. He said they had evidence of a planned insurgency which would be provided to media at the appropriate time. He said a judicial probe would clear the air.

“On one hand, Pakistan Army is fighting terrorists to reclaim no-go zones in North Waziristan, and on the other Qadri is trying to establish his own version of no-go zones in urban centres of the country,” Sanaullah said.

He said that the government of Punjab would present evidence to the judicial commission showing that Qadri’s workers taking oath against the state and the Constitution and to create unrest in the country.

The opposition rejected Sanaullah’s statement and said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was the greatest threat to democracy. “In difficult times, the Sharif brothers have fled to Jeddah and left  the nation at the mercy of dictators,” said Rashid.The opposition protested and boycotted the house proceeding.

The speaker adjourned the session until Wednesday morning.

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