Security situation: No major breach of law and order reported

Candidates for chairman, vice chairman in UC-238 arrested for carrying weapons

LAHORE: Apart from a few skirmishes, local government elections were held peacefully in Lahore on Saturday.

In Union Council 207 in Gulberg, some supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had a clash after a woman voter was stopped at a polling station. However, police controlled the situation.

Supporters of the two parties also clashed with each other at Signal Shop in UC-118, the Manian Wala School polling station, UC-174 in Lakhodair and on Khokhar Road.

PTI’s Asif Bhinder and PML-N’s Latif Khokhar were detained at their homes following the altercations.

Polling in UC-218, Alhamd Colony, was suspended for 30 minutes following a scuffle between workers of the two parties. Some PML-N supporters dismantled a PTI camp in UC 14, Shahdara.

In UC-123 in Garhi Shahu, some PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party supporters had a heated argument.

Police said they had arrested seven people for carrying weapons in violation of the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission. They were identified as Mobeen Ahmad from UC-254 in Kahna, Gulzar Hussain from UC-171 in Qila Gujjar Singh, Mubashir Khan from UC-59 in Islampura, Saeed Ahmad from UC-150 in North Cantt, Abdul Rasheed from UC-148 in Ghaziabad and Zubair, a resident of Johar Town.

Haji Wilayat and Imran Shah, PTI candidates for chairman and vice chairman in UC-238, were also arrested for displaying weapons.

Police also seized a gun from a man said to be a guard of PTI leader Chaurdhry Muhammad Sarwar in Faisal Town.

More than 15,000 police officials had been deployed across the city. Lahore police had divided the city into 12 zones; each zone was supervised by an SP. Teams of 10 to 12 policemen, led by sub-inspectors, provided security to each UC.

Officials of the Quick Response Force patrolled main roads across the city. Pakistan Army and Rangers, too, patrolled some of the main roads.

Police had cordoned off polling stations and used barricades and barbed wires to prevent vehicles from entering the premises. They used metal detectors and walkthrough gates to frisk voters at polling stations. Security had also been tightened at entrances to the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2015.