09 May 2004	Sunday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, May 8: The People's Party Parliamentarians alleged on Saturday that police had dislodged almost all of its protest camps set up at the tehsil headquarters in the Punjab.

"The activists, who dared to resist the police drive, were taken into custody and shifted to unknown places," provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry told a press conference. Party's central deputy information secretary Altaf Qureshi was also present.

The protest camps had been set up at the tehsil headquarters in Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Gujranwala as a part of the 'Remove Musharraf' drive.

Mr Chaudhry protested that police arrested party activists in Nankana Sahib and Sialkot for setting up camps, though section 144 had not been imposed at both the places.

"On the one hand it is being said that constitution and democracy have been restored and on the other hand people are being denied freedom of expression," he regretted.

Asked if the party would protest against the police highhandedness in assemblies, he said if the action against peaceful struggle continued, they might go even beyond.

He denied that protest camps were avoided in Lahore becauseof the imposition of section 144 by the district government.

SIALKOT: The civil lines police have arrested 10 PPP activists for taking out an anti-government procession on Saturday afternoon.

Those arrested are city PPP president Zahid Bashir, ex-district president Azhar Hasan Advocate, youth wing president Mehmood Chaudhry, city SVP Malik Hamid Zai, Shahjehan, Javaid Iqbal, Syed Zameerul Hasan, Chaudhry Bashir, Khalid Hussain Bhatti and Asif Javaid.

Police have registered a case against them under 16-MPO.

The visiting Benazir Bhutto's special envoy, PPP president (European affairs) Matloob Hussain Warraich, has strongly condemned these arrests and demanded immediate release of those arrested.