February 24, 2006	Friday	Muharram 25, 1427

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LAHORE, Feb 23: City police chief Khwaja Khalid Farooq has said that nobody will be allowed to enter the provincial capital on Feb 24 and Feb 26, and law-enforcers will be deployed to seal city’s all entry points.

Presiding over a meeting on Thursday, he said 376 activists of different religious and political parties had been kept in custody in connection with the ongoing processions and rallies over the cartoons issue.

Giving details, Mr Farooq said 311 people had been arrested, while 65 others had been detained since Feb 13; a day before protesters turned violent and damaged public property in the city.

Police sources said the arrested men included those who were picked up by the police to bar their participation in the rallies, besides some alleged rioters and arsonists. The people allegedly involved in the Feb 14 arson and violence had been arrested on identification by some held activists and through evidence, mainly comprising video films and stills of the incident, the sources said.

About Friday (today) protests planned by the MMA, the police chief said there was a complete ban on processions and rallies, and violators would be dealt with an iron hand. “Anybody who dares to defy the ban will be arrested on the spot,” he warned.

Saying that an effective strategy had been devised to maintain law and order during Feb 24 and Feb 26 protests, Mr Farooq said at least 8,000 police, besides Rangers personnel had been deployed to meet any eventuality.

The Rangers, whose number has been increased for security purposes, have been patrolling the city roads round the clock for the last five days.

Lamenting the Feb 14 violence and arson, the police chief said no repetition of such acts would be allowed. However, he added that peaceful public meetings, could be held at Minar-i-Pakistan, and that too with the permission of the district government. Like, he said, PPP held a peaceful demonstration on Thursday without violating the law.

Meanwhile, the police were continuing with raids for preemptive arrests of potential ‘trouble-makers’.

TNRM: A delegation of the Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz (TNRM) called on Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi here on Thursday to request him to release the people arrested after Feb 14 rally. The delegation was led by Mufti Muneebur Rehman.

The chief minister has sought a report within two days on the arrests, assuring the team of a sympathetic view on the issue, says a press release issued here on Thursday. Condemning rioting in Lahore, the delegation said the rioters did not belong to them.

JI CELL: The Jamaat-i-Islami has set up legal aid cells for pursuing cases of its workers being arrested in connection with protest against cartoons.

The cells will work at the district and tehsil headquarters in the province, political committee president Zafar Jamal Baloch, Justice Khizar Hayat (retired) and Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari told a press conference on Thursday.