LAHORE, Feb 13: A year later, Lahorites are still in the dark about the culprits who perpetrated the worst arson attacks in the history of the city since partition.

On Feb 14 last year, a crowd of people enraged by the appearance of blasphemous cartoons in some European newspapers held the city hostage for the whole day.

They set fire to several buildings, including the Punjab Assembly, some foreign banks, a police station and food outlets, a cinema and a theatre as well as damaged hundreds of cars and motorcycles.

Three people were killed and 20 others injured during the ransacking.

The authorities made many arrests in the wake of the violence in various parts of the city. And that is where the story ended as some organisers of the rally are being tried in the anti-terrorism court while

the government has not come up with concrete findings about the identity of the rioters.

Thousands of people, including men from various religious parties and seminaries, had taken to the streets on a strike call given by the Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz, a group of small Sunni parties. The protesters gathered near the shrine of the Data Ganj Bukhsh. From there they were to march up to the Charing Cross on The Mall. They turned violent soon after the rally began and the Lower Mall police station became their first target as it was pelted with stones.

They also attempted in vain to storm into the district courts building.

Reaching the GPO Chowk, they split into groups of 20 to 50 each and began vandalizing shops, setting on fire buildings and plundering offices. Shezan Restaurant and a showroom of cars in the Dyal Singh Mansion, a foreign bank in the Alfalah building, the Punjab Assembly building, PIA offices, Wapda House, the Lahore Stock Exchange and LDA Plaza were their next targets.

At least 500 vehicles, mostly cars, were damaged. Some 75 motorcycles and 10 cars were burnt completely. All traffic signals on The Mall, Egerton Road, Hall Road, Laxmi Chowk, Bhati Chowk and some on Ferozpur and Multan roads were also broken.

On Egerton Road, three rioters were killed when the guard of a bank resorted to firing on seeing the mob approaching its building.

A travel agency located in the area was also torched and along with it were burnt hundreds of copies of the Holy Quran placed in its office.

A cinema house and a theatre were damaged in Bhati Chowk while a bakery and two petrol pumps were also smashed in Nawankot.

People are still looking for an answer to the question as to why the organizers of the rally did not call off the protest though they had been informed of rioting before the main procession left Bhati Chowk for The Mall.

They are also still wondering as to why the Pakistan Rangers were called in after much delay when the situation had got out of control of the police which played the role of silent spectators instead of countering arsonists who even kept SSP (operations) Aamir Zulfikar Khan a hostage for quite some time.

Eyewitnesses were neither reportedly invited to join any inquiry set up for fixing responsibility for vandalizing public property.

The police did challenge the rioters at some points by resorting to teargas shelling and baton charging, but the miscreants were allowed to flee. The police blamed the organisers of the rally for breaching their commitment to stay peaceful during the protest. But the organisers of the protest refuted the authorities’ claim that they had taken the responsibility of maintaining law and order during the rally.

Most victims of vandalism during the protest have yet not been compensated. The government promised to make up for the losses of motorcycle and cycle owners only, and did not accept claims of building and car owners.

More than 60 per cent of those assured of compensation for their losses are still awaiting fulfillment of the promise. Only around 30 victims have been given the promised new motorcycles.