November 16, 2007	Friday	Ziqa’ad 05, 1428

PESHAWAR, Nov 15: The district chapters of Pakistan People’s Party held demonstrations, rallies and public meetings in the NWFP on Thursday to denounce the imposition of emergency rule, removal of superior courts’ judges and new curbs on the media.

Police tear-gassed and baton-charged a procession on the GT Road as it was heading towards Ashraf Road Grain Market. The party’s provincial general secretary Najmuddin Khan, former Peshawar nazim Azam Khan Afridi, Ejaz Yousufzai, Jahanzeb Thekedar, Baz Mohammad, Tufail Ahmed, Abid Nadeem, Bilal, Farooq Shah, Shahnawaz and 10 others were arrested. PPP activists kept playing hide-and-seek with police in the old city area.

They clashed with police on GT Road near Hashtnagri, Chowk Shadi Pir and Lahori and New Rampura Gates for an hour. Later, they re-appeared in Qissakhwani Bazaar but dispersed peacefully.

PPP Peshawar city president Syed Ayub Shah told Dawn that the party’s workers were about to leave the GT Road after a demonstration when police fired gear-gas shells on their peaceful gathering near Hashtnagri.

He said police thrashed some protesters and dragged them into the Hashtnagri police station. Some workers were taken to the Sharqi police station, he said.

Condemning the inhuman treatment by police, he said the police atrocities could not deter the pro-democracy forces from coming on the streets.