High alert: Tight security blankets city

Police say PAT leader refused their protection, relied on private guards.

LAHORE:

Security remained on high alert on Monday especially around the routes of Paksitan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Tahirul Qadri’s convoy.

Heavy contingents of Lahore Police, Rangers, Elite Force and Air Security Force had been deployed at the Lahore airport where Qadri landed.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zulfiqar Hameed supervised police deployment at the airport.

He told The Express Tribune that police had devised a plan to escort Qadri to his residence but the PAT leader refused to move along the police and instead relied on his own security guards.

A superintendent who did not want to be named said more than 150 plainclothes policemen had been deployed at the airport. He said scores of PAT workers had arrived to receive their leader.

Hameed had tried to negotiate and convince Qadri to leave the plane and go to his residence in police protection, said the SP.

He said arrangements had also been made to fly Qadri home on a helicopter but he refused that. Police ordered journalists to take their broadcast vehicles out of airport premises.

Rescue-1122 were also on alert at the airport.

Chief Traffic Officer Sohail Chaudhry supervised the route used by Qadri, Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Although Qadri’s guards were allowed to move along the convoy, police provided security cover to the entire cavalcade. Police vehicles maintained a good distance in front of and behind the motorcade and cleared the route.

Roads leading to Aziz Bhatti Road in Cantonment were blocked for traffic and commuters were also kept from driving on the Canal Road.

Traffic jams were reported on several roads, including Jail Road, The Mall, Ferozepur Road, Shaukat Ali Road and Usmani Road. Cellular services also remained suspended in the airport area, Faisal town, Model Town, Johar Town for more than six hours.

No police were deployed at the PAT secretariat in Model Town even after Qadri arrived there in the evening.

The CCPO said policemen had been asked not to be around the secretariat and avoid wielding weapons. Apart from local police, he said, 100 reserve policemen had been kept on alert to tackle any untoward situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2014.