12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, May 11: Police on Tuesday teargassed and baton-charged the activists of the PML-N and the PPP before detaining scores of them, including senior leaders, in different parts of the city to prevent them from going to Lahore airport to greet Shahbaz Sharif.

Around a dozen activists and two policemen were reported to have been injured during clashes, mainly outside the Lohari Gate. However, none of the injured suffered bullet wounds.

Main clashes were held outside the Lohari Gate when the PML-N workers in groups emerged from narrow streets to hurl stones at the police. The police could not control the situation and resorted to aerial firing and used teargas shells.

The police claimed that they had to baton-charge the mob when it pelted them with stones. However, the police failed to maintain law and order despite a curfew-like situation in some parts of the city.

The PML-N activists managed to reach places the police did not like them to go. "This is our victory," party's district-level leader Chaudhry Hanif from Kot Addu said on The Mall.

A 12-member monitoring team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the government for creating such a situation. "This is undemocratic. They (the police) are treating the politicians as animals; a clear-cut violation of the freedom of expression and right to assemble," Mahboob Ahmad Khan of the HRCP said while talking to reporters.

Prominent among those detained included MNA Memoona Hashmi, MPA Samiullah Khan, Punjab PML-N President Zulfikar Khosa and vice-president Pir Binyamin Rizvi, chief coordinator Ehsan Iqbal and Lahore's president Haji Hanif. Four women MPAs - Perveen Masood, Khalida Manzoor, Nighat Khan and Shahnaz Saleem - were rounded up when they managed to enter Lahore near Sherakot.

Announcing that he was representing the MQM-H, a man introduced himself as Kamran Rizvi and courted arrest at Nila Gumbad. He said he was doing so to express solidarity with the PML-N.

Ms Memoona was held at the airport when she arrived from Multan while the other leaders were detained when they attempted to lead groups of activists marching on various roads.

The party claimed that the police had arrested hundreds of its workers in Lahore and thousands in the Punjab. The police, however, claimed that they had arrested few dozen people.

"Hundreds of our workers were picked up by the police," said Pir Binyamin Rizvi, the party vice-president, before he was arrested. Other arrests were made in Nila Gumbad, The Mall, Anarkali and various points on the Multan road. The police in uniform and civvies captured them.

"I can't say anything on the number of the arrests until they are compiled late at night," said Lahore Operations police chief Aftab Cheema. He said the police had to take action in response to attempts to disturb law and order, as "we saw in the case of Memoona Hashmi." She tried to create a law and order situation and was held, he added.

However, a police spokesman quoted Mr Cheema said the arrests in Lahore should not be more than 150 or 160. For further action against the detainees, he said a decision to this effect was in process.

Elaborate security measures were taken by the police, mainly at the places where the party had planned gathering. Pickets manned by heavy police contingents were set up early in the morning, diverting traffic to various routes and causing a great deal of inconvenience to people.