PESHAWAR, Oct 6: About a dozen lawyers were injured when an armoured personnel carrier (APC) hit bar members protesting against the presidential poll and scores fell unconscious because of intense tear-gas shelling after they allegedly set on fire the APC near the NWFP Assembly on Saturday.
The President of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, Abdul Lateef Afridi, was among those seriously injured. The bar members were setting on fire an effigy of General Pervez Musharraf.
The burning APC rammed through the boundary wall of the Met office, opposite the assembly building on the Khyber Road.
Angry lawyers lobbed stones at the assembly building, smashing windowpanes prompting riot police to fire tear-gas shells to disperse the protesting lawyers.
Doctors at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) said that Lateef Afridi’s legs were fractured and he was still in hospital.
Other injured lawyers included PHCBA’s secretary-general Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Naveed Akhter, Hastham Khan, Majeed Khan Shahalam, Nek Nawaz Khan, Abdul Ahad and Abbas Khan Sangeen.
Unconscious lawyers were also treated at the LRH. Two journalists were slightly injured in clashes between the police and lawyers.
Since early morning, riot police were deployed around the assembly building and all roads leading to the assembly had been cordoned off.
Lawyers, a number of them from other districts, gathered in the high court premises and took out a protest rally, marching towards the assembly. When the rally reached Rehman Baba Square, they were stopped by the police force. The lawyers were shouting ‘Go Musharraf Go’ and ‘Diesel, Diesel Maulana Diesel’, a nickname invented for Maulana Fazlur Rehman during an unproven fuel scam.
The police claimed that the APC was burnt by lawyers but the lawyers rejected the claim and said that the burning effigy had hit the vehicle which caught fire.
PHCBA’s president Afridi said that the police had intentionally tried to run over the lawyers. They lodged a complaint at the LRH, charging senior police officials of attempted murder.
An official at the East Cant police station told Dawn in the afternoon that they had not yet registered an FIR against any lawyer for damaging public property.
Earlier, protesters were addressed by Lateef Afridi, Barrister Baachha and Ghulam Nabi.
APDM Rally: A protest rally organised by All Parties Democratic Movement received poor response from the public. Markets remained open and traffic remained normal.
A small rally was taken out from the Grand Trunk Road which assembled at Chowk Yadgar where speeches were made.
PESHAWAR, Oct 6: About a dozen lawyers were injured when an armoured personnel carrier (APC) hit bar members protesting against the presidential poll and scores fell unconscious because of intense tear-gas shelling after they allegedly set on fire the APC near the NWFP Assembly on Saturday.
