LAHORE, April 13: The PML-N launched a 10-day protest campaign on Tuesday against the conviction of its acting president Javed Hashmi, claiming that over 40 party workers had been arrested and houses of another 20 male and 14 female activists raided
by the police since Monday night.
The police did not allow the party to set up a camp outside the ARD secretariat on the Nicholson Road, saying that district Nazim's permission was necessary for such a programme, a condition the organizers were not prepared to meet.
The speeches of various leaders were as strong as the turnout was poor, and Punjab PML-N president Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa warned that the protest would be converted into an uncontrollable movement if the rulers did not change their attitude towards political workers.
Only a few dozen people were present when the provincial leadership reached the ARD secretariat at about 5pm. However, police, both in uniform and plain clothes, outnumbered the protesters, and because of them what was essentially a non-event became a small gathering.
HRCP spokesperson Asma Jehangir also participated in the protest to express solidarity with the PML-N. She said the government had no right to persecute any political worker, and what had been done to Mr Hashmi was nothing short of persecution.
She would meet the PML-N leaders during the next few days to see how the HRCP could play a role in the situation. Before the arrival of provincial leaders Zulfiqar Khosa, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Binyamin Rizvi and Lahore president Haji Haneef, only a dozen people, four of them women, were present at the protest venue.
They raised slogans against Gen Musharraf and in favour of their convicted leader. They also staged a sit-in on the road, interrupting traffic for a few minutes. Police arrested three men and one woman, Rahat Afza.
Some other women were maltreated by policemen, an action which prompted slogans against the law-enforcement agents. Before arresting the PML-N activists, the police picked up the pet dog of Mr Rahat Afza.
Mr Khosa and Mr Rafiq said in their speeches and a subsequent press conference that the government had proceeded against the PML-N acting president without any justification.
Referring to the heavy police presence, Mr Khosa said it appeared as if some Wana fugitives had sneaked in and were being traced by the police. He said opposition workers would not be intimated by such a show of force.
A former Punjab governor, Mr Khosa said it was strange that those involved in various scams were in power and those working for integrity of the country or advising the army to return to the barracks being convicted on sedition charges.
Mr Rafiq said the protest would gain momentum with the passage of time. He said time for a showdown was very close and the political temperature would shoot up with the return of Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
A member of the National Assembly, Mr Rafiq said prisons would fall short of space when his party workers came out. He said the party would hold a protest meeting at the residence of MPA Mujtaba Shuja on Thursday.
TEHMINA: PML-N vice-president Tehmina Daultana said at a separate news conference that charges against Mr Hashmi were frivolous. She recalled that no action was taken against Air Marshal Asghar Khan who as a PNA leader wrote a letter to the armed forces seeking their intervention.
An MNA hailing from Vehari, Ms Daultana said it was ridiculous that the generals had developed a taste for politics but had zero tolerance for criticism. She said conviction of Mr Hashmi might have been a lame attempt at preventing Mian Shahbaz Sharif and other exiled leaders from returning home. But, she said, these leaders would not change their plan.
She said Shahbaz Sharif was ready to come back no matter what. Referring to the prevailing calm in the country, she said it might be a lull before the storm. "Don't force a storm on us." She said the ARD leaders would be meeting in Quetta on April 18 to decide the agitation schedule.
OUR REPORTER ADDS: Police said the workers had been taken into custody, not arrested, by them. "We have summoned hardly seven PML-N workers, who could be a threat to law and order in the given situation, and negotiating with them. If they assure us that they will not take law and order into their hands, we will let them go," DIG Tariq Saleem told Dawn.
He said no body would be allowed to take law into hands or march on roads as processions and protests were banned. None of those taken into custody included any prominent personality, he added.
SP (security) Raja Riffat Mukhtar said the figure of the arrested men was being compiled. Sources said the raids started early in the morning and continued till late in the evening. The raiding teams would call any of the wanted worker or leader by phone, wanting him or her to court arrest and, on refusal, would conduct a raid.
The party leaders, on the other hand, alleged that the police trespassed several houses and misbehaved with the inmates during the raids.
The arrested people had been detained at various police lock-ups and there was no word from the police about their release till the filing of this report.
