July 04, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1428

LAHORE, July 3: Police beefed up security around four prominent religious seminaries besides all important mosques and other allied places in the city on Tuesday after the Lal Masjid operation.

All divisional SPs were issued directive to tighten security around mosques and seminaries to avert any untoward happening, sources told Dawn.

“We have been directed to deploy police officials at mosques and seminaries besides conducting extensive patrolling in the city,” said a field police officer, asking not to be named.

He said one to two officials had been deployed at ordinary mosques and seminaries while a large number of officials had been deployed at major mosques and seminaries in the city.

Heavy police contingents were deployed at Jamia Asharfia on Ferozepur Road, Jamiatul Muntazir in Model Town, Jamia Naeemia in Garhi Shahu and Jamia Saddiquia, a capital city police officer said.

He said 3,300 personnel had been called from the Police Lines for patrol duty, in addition to half strength of 76 police stations in the city. They would be assisted by 148 motorcycles and 120 vehicles of the mobile squad.

Officials were directed to patrol sensitive places, entry and exit points of city, Afghan localities and Mansoora (the Jamaat-i-Islami headquarters).

Besides Lahore, the police have been put on high alert in all other districts of Punjab.

Punjab IGP Ahmed Nasim had directed all regional police officers, city police officers and district police officers to ensure foolproof security.

DEMO: Teachers and students of Jamia Ashrafia staged a demonstration on Ferozepur Road to lodge protest against the operation against Lal Masjid/Jamia Hafsa. The protesters chanted slogans against the government.

Witnesses said dozens of protesters gathered on the road in the evening and blocked the busy thoroughfare for two hours to express solidarity with the Lal Masjid students.

Jamia Ashrafia vice-principal Maulana Fazal Raheem said the use of power by the government could not resolve the Lal Masjid issue. “It (the operation) will rather worsen the situation.”

He warned that the clash between seminary students and law-enforcement agencies would lead to violence in other parts of the country as well. He advised the government to choose the path of dialogues in such sensitive matters.

Mufti Hameedullah Jan, Maulana Abdul Rashid and Hafiz Zubair also spoke on the occasion and threatened to march to Islamabad if the government did not stop the operation.

Though the demonstrators remained peaceful, their act caused traffic jam on the road. The two-hour blockade led to the traffic mess on other roads as well.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties condemned the action and called for a dialogue to resolve the issue.