Gloves are off: Hundreds detained as police swoop on PTI workers

PAT activists also arrested; Imran, Qadri scrap talks with govt; Tareen asks govt not to test patience of PTI.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

In a surprise move, the police cracked down on workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistani Awami Tehreek (PAT), rounding up hundreds of them in separate raids in Islamabad and Lahore between Friday and Saturday. The massive swoop that came a day before the scheduled ‘one-nation day’ of the PTI dealt a death blow to a protracted negotiation process between the two protesting parties and the government.

On Friday, 576 workers of PTI and PAT sent on a 14-day judicial remand by Islamabad’s city district court on Saturday. Some 200 PTI supporters who had gathered outside the court were also picked up and will be presented in court today. Angered PTI and PAT leaders called off all negotiations with the government in the wake of the arrests.

Activists of the two parties were arrested by capital police in response to a First Information Reports (FIRs) registered in different police stations for allegedly attacking the police, damaging property, and violating Section 144, which was imposed by the administration on Sept 11.

The detained workers, including PTI’s sound engineer DJ Butt, were presented before a local court on Saturday where the police obtained their judicial remand. The workers were then sent to Adiala Jail. The police registered FIRs under Section 109 (abetment), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and violation of Section 144.

A majority of the PTI workers were arrested by a special team of Islamabad police, headed by Superintendent Police (Rural) Zubair Sheikh, who conducted raids in Sectors G-6, F-7, F-6, G-7. DJ Butt was among those arrested from a guest house in Melody Market.

Talking to journalists outside the court, DJ Butt said that he was arrested illegally from Gorla. He said he was transferred to a private guest house later Friday night and was not provided anything to eat.  “I am a professional DJ and I have nothing to do with politics,” he added. Butt alleged that the police harassed him and snatched his gold chain, mobile phones and cash.

PTI senior leader Hamid Khan said the party would challenge the arrest of its workers and a list of workers who were arrested by police would be prepared. All FIRs would be challenged in courts, he added.

Raids in Lahore

Lahore police detained 300 PTI and 25 PAT workers after raids late Friday night. A senior police official said the workers were arrested in the wake of the call made by the PTI and PAT leadership to its workers to assemble in Islamabad to celebrate the one-month anniversary of their sit-ins. He said the workers were arrested on the pretext of previous FIRs lodged against the PTI, PAT leadership and unnamed workers.

The police official said 64 PTI and 2 PAT workers were arrested on record and sent to different distant police stations in the city, including Sanda, Shahdara Town and Manga Mandi out of fear that other workers might attack the police stations in the central areas of the city.

He said raids were carried out at the houses of the PTI leadership in the city as well but most of them were not found at their homes. He added that police personnel of the junior ranks may be informing the party leadership prior to such raids. The houses of Mian Aslam Iqbal, Ishtiaq Malik and Andaleeb Abbas were raided by the police, as well as cricketer Abdul Qadir’s house as his son is an active PTI worker.

The police also arrested a transporter, Abdul Hafeez, from Thokar for renting a container-lifting crane to the PTI administration. Heavy police contingents were deployed at Lalik Chowk and Liberty Roundabout to disperse any PTI workers there. Police officials said workers planned to assemble at Lalik Chowk and move on to Liberty Roundabout before moving to Islamabad.

Negotiations grind to a halt

Addressing his supporters Saturday evening, PTI chairman Imran Khan asked angrily, “Prime Minister Nawaz, is it democratic to arrest young workers?” He said officials carrying out the arrests ‘should be ashamed of themselves’. “Now, there is no room for negotiations anymore,” the PTI chief reiterated. He added that the party would not leave the capital until the PM resigns.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s real face has been unveiled, he is a dictator and his democracy is worse than General Pervez Musharraf’s rule,” Imran said. “We cannot rely on the police or judiciary anymore,” he added. “Once Nawaz Sharif is gone, I will take the IG Islamabad and IG Punjab to task for what the police under their command did to our supporters and for the Model Town incident,” Imran said.

During an emergency press conference on Saturday, PTI leader Jehangir Tareen said, “We have suspended all negotiations. I have informed the opposition Jirga of our decision as well.” He accused the Punjab police of resorting to ‘state terrorism’ and warned them not to ‘test’ the PTI’s patience. “We will not move back an inch,” he added.

The judiciary must take suo motu notice over the mass arrest of PTI workers, Tareen added. “Negotiations will be suspended until the release of the workers and the removal of containers from the Red Zone.” He demanded that police register FIRs in the deaths of three PTI workers killed during police clashes in the Red Zone.

PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri also announced the suspension of negotiations until all arrested PAT and PTI workers and leaders are released. Qadri claimed that 12 of his personal guards had been arrested. “When they [guards] went home after their duty, they were picked up from the rooms of their rest house,” Qadri said, adding that his guards have been charged with carrying weapons even though they have licences.

“My guards have been arrested to weaken our security so that the police can crack down on us,” said the PAT chief. “The end of the incumbent government’s rule is near,” Qadri said. Concluding his address, Qadri warned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he would be responsible if PAT workers were attacked.

Senator Rehman Malik, who is part of the political Jirga joined the chorus of voices urging the prime minister to release PAT and PTI workers. He said that if he was in the PAT leadership’s place, he, too, would have boycotted talks. Malik added that the Jirga had eased the way for talks between the three parties.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.