16 April 2005	Saturday	06 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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BAHAWALPUR, April 15: Police continued crackdown on PPP men and arrested hundreds of them across the Punjab on Friday.

Reports of a number of activists’ going into hiding also poured in.

In Bahawalpur, some 200 activists from different parts of Sindh were taken into custody and their vehicles impounded.

The PPP office-bearers from Khairpur, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan and Balochistan’s Lasbela areas were on their way to Lahore to welcome Asif Ali Zardari. The district police authorities had deployed police at the highway bridge over Sutlej (near Bahawalpur) to stop them.

According to the PPP office-bearers belonging to Mauza Tando Masti of Taulka Khairpur Mirs (Sindh), Muhammed Asghar, UC Tando Masti president, and his companions Sofan Ali Kangro and Altaf Husain Mangi (VPs), SVP Syed Abid Ali Shah, office secretary Azhar Ali Pullpatro and councillor Haider Baksh Anjwani, when they reached the Sutlej bridge by a wagon they were stopped by police and asked not to proceed to Lahore.

They said several other PPP supporters from Sindh and Balochistan areas were also disembarked and all of them were brought to the district police lines.

They said they had to give in to the pressure of the police, who vowed to escort them back to Punjab-Sindh border.

Meanwhile, some of the office-bearers told Dawn from their hideouts that their colleagues had been taken into custody to thwart their departure to Lahore.

GUJRANWALA: At least 50 activists were taken into custody in the district.

The police reportedly raided the residence of PPP district president Chaudhary Abdullah Virk, secretary-general Mian Azhar Hassan Dar, city president Lalla M. Idrees and MPA Mian Saudul Hassan Dar, besides others, but they could not be arrested as they had already gone to Lahore. However, some more nazims and naib nazims of union councils were arrested.

On the other hand, the PPP leaders have urged the workers to reach Lahore defying all restrictions.

JHANG: Several PPP parliamentarian and workers were held by police in Jhang, Chiniot and Shorkot in pre-dawn raids at their houses on Thursday.

Those arrested from Jhang included tehsil secretary-general Asghar Korana, Shaukat Sehgal and city office-bearers Shahid Ali and Muhammad Nasir.

Shorkot police arrested secretary-general Riaz Cheema, city president and two workers. Several other activists were arrested.

District secretary-general Kalab-i-Abbas Shah managed to escape when the police raided his house. A similar raid was carried out at the house of former city president Iqbal Anjum, but he had not returned from Faisalabad where he had gone to attend a workers’ convention.

OKARA: In a crackdown here, the police arrested PPP leader Syed Ijaz Husain Gillani and Rao Rafiq in their office on the Church Road.

The police also held Mumtaz Ali, the driver of PPP district president Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna. Mr Sohna, however, claimed that hundreds of party activists had already gone to Lahore.

Meanwhile, the People’s Lawyers Forum has formed a three-member committee which would provide legal assistance to the detainees.

KASUR: As many as 27 men were held in the swoop throughout the district while police continued raids for more arrests till last reports came in.

Prominent among those held on Friday were Imdad Husain, Azeem Mubarik, Nasir Kamal Bhatti, Arshad, Khizar Hayat, Bawar Khan, Ghulam Nabi, Asghar Ali and Bashir Ahmad.

SARGODHA: More activists and office-bearers were booked here under section 16 MPO and 188 PPC.

Heavy police contingent was deployed to stop caravans of the party loyalists. The police had sealed all roads leading to the railway station, general bus stand and wagon stands.

SIALKOT: More arrests were made in Sialkot and Narowal as well.

Among those held were Daska Bar Association President Malik Nazar Husain, People’s Labour Bureau (Punjab) Deputy Secretary-General Qari Zulfiqar Ali and PPP district additional secretary-general Farooq Shafi Mughal. Several others have gone underground to avert their arrest.

Meanwhile, the district administration and traffic police impounded more public transport vehicles.

TOBA TEK SINGH: In Toba Tek Singh, two more PPP activists were arrested on Friday.

Farooq Seemab and Imdad Husain are the office-bearers of the party’s Kamalia chapter and with their arrest, the number of activists taken into custody touched 23.

Meanwhile, seven of those arrested have been detained for three months in the Faisalabad Central Jail.

SAHIWAL: To prevent PPP leaders and activists from going to Lahore, the Sahiwal police arrested during raids late Thursday night Muhammad Ramzan, Sajid Latif, Muhammad Javed, Tariq Ramay, Dr Naseer Ahmed, Dr Azhar Kahloon (youth wing divisional president), Tahir Abbas Sindhu, Rao Muhammad Saeed and PPP tehsil president Hassan Murtaza Sherazi.

VEHARI: The district police rounded up about a dozen activists in various parts of the district. Some of the key figures managed to escape.

Those held on Friday included Zahoor Ahmad, Najmi, Rana Hanif, Rana Arshad Shafeel, Rasheed, Abdul Khaliq and M. Husain. They were detained in different police stations.