16 April 2005	Saturday	06 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, April 15: The local police arrested 28 activists of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday when they tried to hold a demonstration at Aabpara Chowk in violation of Section 144.

Acting Senior Superintendent of Police Sultan Azam Taimori told this reporter that 28 activists of PPP, including a woman, led by Nayar Bukhari were arrested on charges of violating Section 144. He said the woman worker had been released, while the remaining ones were put behind the bars.

Those arrested included Naeem Kiani, general secretary PPP, Islamabad; Raja Ishtiaq, vice president PSF, Punjab; and Tariq Mehmood Abbasi, president PSF, Islamabad.

Mr Taimori said after receiving an information that a convoy of 39 buses carrying about 500 PPP activists had left for Islamabad from Kohala, they put their force on high alert to stop the convoy from entering Islamabad.

However, the convoy was stopped by the Rawalpindi police near Murree. Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar, the AJK PPP president, was leading the convoy.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi police arrested 120 PPP activists during its two-day operation. Sources in police department said the number of arrested workers was likely to swell to 300 on Saturday.

In addition to the crackdown in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, plain clothes security officials have also been deployed at almost all the bus terminals in Jhelum, Wazirabad and Sialkot to prevent the PPP workers from going to Lahore.

Wagons and buses were being stopped from leaving for their destinations by putting pushcarts and logs at the entry and exit points of the bus terminals, while plain clothes officials were preventing the public transport from even going towards Rawalpindi.

The passengers, mostly women and children, faced immense inconvenience as the wagons were being stopped by police at different places.

“We told the police that we were going to Rawalpindi but despite that they stopped us for more than three hours at Wazirabad,” Mr Omer, who was travelling along with his family, told Dawn.

A large number of PPP activists have either gone into hiding or shifted to undisclosed locations to avoid arrests. However, the police have picked up family members of some PPP activists wanted by the police.

Protest: A large number of Pakistan People’s Party workers gathered here on Friday to protest against the crackdown on party’s supporters.

The protest was organized by local PPP representatives including Haji Saleem Mughal, Banaras Chaudhary, Muqeem Khan and Asad Pervez.

Speaking on the occasion, the leaders criticized the government for the arrest of PPP activists who were making preparations for a grand reception to their leader, Asif Ali Zardari.

They said the party activists would not be affected by hurdles being created by the government, and would give a warm welcome to Mr Zardari on his arrival in Lahore.

The speakers said the Punjab government was creating conditions that might lead to a showdown.

Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

PPP guidelines: Pakistan Peoples Party has issued guidelines for those who have been calling the party offices to complain that their buses and wagons have been impounded by the police and that they are being forcibly stopped from heading towards the Lahore airport.

The party asked all workers to try to reach the Lahore airport by any means possible, come rain or storm.

“If the police stops you anywhere in the journey, stage a peaceful sit-in and if they disperse you by brute force, regroup and again proceed to airport or stage a peaceful sit-in.”

Each worker, whether in Lahore or outside it, must follow same directions so that the impact of the peaceful sit-ins is felt all over the country, the party said.

According to the guidelines, workers should not return home if police stopped them. “They must do peaceful sit-ins and if dispersed, regroup and again do sit-in for as long as possible and preferably until Senator Asif Zardari reaches Bilawal House Lahore on Saturday morning.”

Suo moto notice: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice to order the release of PPP workers and stop Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi from abusing his power to disrupt the welcome reception to Asif Ali Zardari.

The PPP secretariat in-charge and former additional secretary, Kamran Zafar, in a letter addressed to the chief justice, said Asif Zardari was arriving in Lahore on Saturday from Dubai and the party had made a unanimous decision to accord the longest ever political prisoner of the country a rousing welcome.

“Hundreds of thousands of our workers volunteered to come and receive the PPP leader peacefully at the Lahore airport. However, the present Punjab administration, frightened of the show of popular support, has abused its powers to disrupt the constitutional rights of our people to assemble peacefully with a view to deny us our basic political democratic rights,” he said.

Regarding section 144 in the Punjab, he writes: “The illegal imposition of section 144, the arrests of our workers to intimidate them from gathering, the forcible removal of banners, the destroying of posters and billboards etc by the police through the abuse of office are indicative of the fact that Mr Elahi wants to block the welcome reception of Mr Zardari. By this act they are, indeed, undermining constitutionally protected rights as well as abusing their power, a criminal offence under the NAB ordinance besides committing grave violation of human rights.”

Despite the fact that the senior party leaders of the PPP had given them assurance that the rally and the procession on April 16 shall be peaceful, he said, the provincial government had resorted to high-handedness.

Highlighting the discriminatory attitude towards the PPP and dual standard by the regime, he writes, “All these harsh and discriminatory measures adopted by the regime are a clear violation of the principles of fair play, equity and justice and it will go a long way in casting a portentous shadow over the rule of law in the country. It would not be out of place to mention here the double standards of the regime.”

“As you may recall, the religious political parties such as MMA were allowed to take out one million man processions at more than one place in different parts of the country,” he writes.