12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, May 11: With police barricading roads, people faced a great deal of inconvenience here on Tuesday, specially late in the afternoon.

For police it was also hard to perform duty from dawn to dusk on the hottest day of the season so far with a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius and only 10 per cent humidity in the evening.

The police were deployed at almost every crossing and road downtown as well as around the airport. Wearing full anti-riot gear, many of them were seen waiting for PML-N activists under the blazing sun.

A large number of plainclothesmen belonging to the police and several other law-enforcement agencies were also deployed but their presence was not too visible. Till 3pm, the police were stopping and frisking mainly young motorcyclists who they thought could be PML-N activists.

They later blocked the roads leading to Lohari and Shahalam Gates, The Mall, and the adjoining streets in view of agitation by small groups of activists. This created a great deal of inconvenience to people who had to adopt longer routes to reach their destinations.

Traffic remained clogged around the Walled City and traders closed down their shops in view of skirmishes between PML-N workers and the police. Tear gas was another problem faced by residents as the police used it even deep inside the Lohari Gate while chasing demonstrators who took refuge in the narrow lanes.

Those using public transport were affected as the service remained suspended on various routes on The Mall up to the airport for about four hours in the evening. Many were seen walking or waiting for buses at bus stops.

In the cantonment area, all roads leading to the new airport were blocked late in the afternoon and even residents of the nearby localities were not allowed to pass through.

Old people and children sitting in cars were the worst-hit as they found it hard to wait for permission to go home in the extremely hot weather. No plea, however, could make the policemen budge.

The police also patrolled the city on motorcycles and jeeps to keep an eye on the agitators and "create deterrence". Meanwhile, meetings continued to be held at the Chief Minister's House and the civil secretariat to discuss methods to tackle the arrival of Shahbaz Sharif and reaction of his supporters.

In fact, the arrival of Mr Sharif dominated the official work as everybody was busy seeking the related information. All the government departments concerned, the police and other provincial and federal law-enforcement agencies put in coordinated efforts to handle the situation at the airport and in Lahore and other cities.

Those supervizing the situation remained in constant touch with the higher government officials and their political bosses. They heaved a sigh of relief after the departure of Shahbaz Sharif and expressed their happiness over "the ability of law-enforcement agencies to avert any major agitation in any city of the province."