Cases registered against over 2,000 PPP activists: 144 CrPC violation alleged
By A Correspondent
MULTAN, Dec 21: The district police rounded up nearly two dozen activists of the PPP in a crackdown carried out on the night between Monday and Tuesday.
The police registered cases against 2,200 people for alleged violation of section 144 of the CrPC and display of illegal arms.
The cases were registered with Seetal Marri and Jaleelabad police stations. Prominent among the people named in the FIRs are Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former Multan mayor Salahuddin Dogar, MNA Liaquat Dogar, MPA Dr Javed Saddiqi, District Naib Nazim Amer Dogar, Ahmad Mujtaba Gillani, former federal minister Mukhtar Awan and Khwaja Rizwan Alam.
Reports said hundreds of PPP workers and supporters accorded warm welcome to Salahuddin Dogar on his arrival on Sunday last to Multan first time after being granted bail in the cases of corruption instituted against him by the NAB and the Anti-Corruption Establishment.
The former mayor was received at Kumharanwala Chowk and was taken to his residence by a large procession of jubilant PPP workers after passing through the main city roads. The provincial home department had clamped section 144 CrPC days before the expected date of his arrival to ban assembly of five or more people.
However, after a delay of almost 36 hours, the police registered the cases and arrested several PPP activists. Of the arrested workers, Malik Asad, Muhammad Sultan, Akhtar Khan, Bashir Ahmad, Rana Shahid, Muhammad Ramzan and Muhammad Afzal were granted bails by a local court on Tuesday while Abdullah, Shamsuddin, Naeem Sheikh, Muhammad Haneef, Abdul Razzaq, Zahoor, Muhammad Akram, Liaquat, Sarfraz and Zafar Iqbal were sent to the jail on judicial remand after rejection of their bail applications.
Meanwhile, Liaquat Dogar, Dr Javed Saddiqi, Amer Dogar, Ashiq Shujra, Saleem Raja, Shahid Jamal, Muhammad Javed, Ghaffar Dogar and Akbar Ansari had secured pre-arrest bails.
When contacted, Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned registration of cases saying a peaceful procession to welcome Mr Dogar was organized after an agreement with the district administration.
He said Nazim Riaz Qureshi, DCO Ijaz Chaudhry and DPO Sikander Hayat were present at the meeting in which the modalities of the welcome procession, including its route were agreed."We did not violate the agreement and the cases and arrests are uncalled for," he asserted.
The Nazim told Dawn that the permission to receive Mr Dogar was sought by his deputy, Amer Dogar, who wanted to welcome his father at the Kumharanwala Chowk. There was not any reference in the application to bring Salahuddin Dogar to the city in a procession, he added.
He said not only the section 144 was violated, but the leaders also delivered anti-government speeches to instigate people. He said he had nothing to do with registration of cases because the processionists had violated the orders of the provincial home secretary.
