12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

GUJAR KHAN, May 11: About 150 workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were arrested on Tuesday while several people, including the district police officer (DPO), were injured in clashes between the police and the party workers at Mandra on the GT Road.

The PML-N workers were stopped by the police from proceeding to Lahore to welcome party president Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The procession of the PML-N from NWFP, led by Pir Sabir Shah,Sardar Mehtab Ahmed and Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, was stopped by a police party headed by DPO Syed Moravat Shah near Mandra Toll Plaza.

The local leaders of the PML-N were talking to the police officers when the police started arresting the party workers. According to eyewitnesses, the people who were peaceful suddenly turned violent. The police started baton-charge and used tear gas shells to disperse them.

The DPO and several other people sustained injuries in the clash. The Mandra police arrested about 150 leaguers, including Sardar Mehtab and Iqbal Jhagra, and impounded about 11 vehicles which were carrying them.

Hundreds of relatives of the arrested workers had gathered outside the Mandra police station till filing of this report. Pir Sabir Shah inquired about the condition of the arrested workers at the police station.

Talking to this correspondence, he said the arrest of the workers was against human rights. He said about 45 party workers from the NWFP were in the custody of Mandra police.

A source in the police said about 118 workers had been taken into custody. Later, the arrested workers were shifted to unknown locations under tight security supervised by DSP Sardar Maqsood Khan of Rawalpindi police.