KARACHI, Nov 10: Police released those workers of the Pakistan People’s Party late Friday night who had been picked up while protesting against Benazir Bhutto’s house arrest in Islamabad, and did not lodge any case against them in a line of action that stood at variance with the one adopted against lawyers who are facing sedition charges for almost the same kind of agitation.
Police and party sources confirmed that the workers were arrested while setting fire to tyres and pelting stones during protest demonstrations in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Lyari areas.
An officer at Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station said that police released three workers following a meeting with senior party members.
“Our three workers were arrested who were released later,” PPP spokesman Ejaz Durrani confirmed and denied any further arrest of the party workers in any part of the city, not even in Lyari, which witnessed some violent protests against Bhutto’s detention ahead of the PPP’s Rawalpindi public meeting.
Apparently a soft spot within the administration for PPP workers throws into sharp relief the events earlier this week when dozens of lawyers protesting against emergency rule were arrested on the premises of the City Courts and the High Court of Sindh.
CCPO’s justification
As some lawyers face severe charges under which they may serve life term, most of the lawyers have been remanded in jail custody under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance while charges against many still remain unclear. An FIR (114/2007) at the City Courts police was lodged against eight lawyers on behalf of the state under Section 124(a)/34, which pertains to sedition. The eight lawyers are Maqbool Hasan, Javed Tanoli, Sabir Tanoli, Mohammad Aslam Bhatti, Masoodur Rehman, Mohammad Imran Khan, Khurram Nisar and Jamila Manzoor.
On the other side, despite Friday’s protests during which a tyre shop on the premises of a filling station in Kharadar was set on fire and an ASI was reportedly wounded in Lea Market, the police have not registered any FIR of the incidents against the protesters.
However, authorities find justification for their actions against both fraternities.
“Sedition charges against lawyers have been framed on certain material, found during their protest,” said Capital City Police Officer Azhar Ali Farooqi.
He said, “We have found written material in shape of different resolutions with the lawyers and speeches they made during protest fulfill the demand to book them under sedition charges.” Similarly, he said, some were arrested in a preemptive move since they were considered a threat to the law and order situation.
However, the city police chief said the release of the PPP workers, who were arrested during protest, did not reflect any understanding.
“The police officer of his respective area knows best why he arrested and later released the PPP workers. He is in a better position to judge the situation and owns grounds for any action he takes,” said Mr Farooqui.
‘Lawyers prime target’
Though none of the lawyers nominated in the FIR has been arrested so far, the legal fraternity identifies itself as the prime target of the government under the state of emergency.
“There has never been such harsh cases lodged against lawyers in the history of Pakistan, as a sedition charge is much severe than that of a murder,” said former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed. He said, “There is a vast difference between the state and the government and a protest against the government can never be rated as anti-state.”
He said the government in fact targeted the legal fraternity for which it could go to any extent to achieve a two-fold objective.
“First it wants to overpower the judiciary and then to save the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which has no legal ground to get approved,” he added.
