LAHORE, Feb 17: Police on Friday arrested over 300 men in the city and elsewhere in Punjab on charges of violating ban on rallies after they had attempted to stage to protests against the publication of sacrilegious cartoons in some European newspapers.
Religious parties, mainly the Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz, had planned to hold rallies after Friday prayers.
The Punjab government had banned rallies and processions after three people were killed and property was damaged in Lahore on Feb 14.
“We rounded up over two dozen men when they tried to assemble at Chowk Nakhuda in the Naulakha area in Lahore. They were trying to disturb the law and order situation,” Lahore’s acting chief of police operations Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmad told Dawn.
Police sources said that around two dozen more men, who had been involved in vandalizing public property on Tuesday, were picked up in several raids in the city.
They said the men had been identified through evidence gathered by investigators. Videos and pictures were used to identify the offenders, they added. Some people who were seen firing shots during the Tuesday riots and the main culprit, who set the Punjab Assembly building on fire, were also arrested.
Heavy contingents of Pakistan Rangers and police commandos were deployed on all important roads and intersections and around important establishments and places of worship. The Rangers also patrolled different city roads.
Besides the Naulakha incident, the police said, residents of Youhanabad, Nishtar Colony, and worshippers in Gulberg also tried to take out rallies. The protesters in Nishtar Colony smashed windscreens of two cars, but escaped when the police arrived there.
“We deputed over 10,000-strong police force, besides the Rangers, to avert any untoward incident. Thank God, the situation remained peaceful,” city police chief DIG Khwaja Khalid Farooq said.
Punjab IGP Ziaul Hasan Khan visited various localities in the city to review the security arrangements.
Reports reaching here from other parts of the province said that about 125 men were rounded up in Multan when they tried to hold a rally and damage public property. At least 51 people were arrested in Faisalabad.
In Sheikhupura division, around four dozen men were rounded up while 30 more were arrested in Sargodha and Jhang, where administration foiled their bid to create a law and order situation.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has issued a list of over 200 men belonging to various religious parties, outlawed groups and some political parties, deemed to be potential threat to the law and order situation.
