November 26, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 15, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 25: An extraordinary police cordon around Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) patron Mian Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and other members of the family on their landing at the Lahore airport prevented many an activist from welcoming their leader the way they liked to.

The Sharifs set foot on home soil after spending seven years in exile, most of the period in Saudi Arabia. A large number of party torchbearers made it to the airport to accord a befitting welcome to Nawaz Sharif.

Over a dozen police vehicles and a special bulletproof car escorted Nawaz Sharif’s vehicle, driven by Hamza Shahbaz, from the Allama Iqbal International Airport to the Data Ganj Bakhsh shrine. Despite strict security arrangements and police deployment on all roads leading to the airport, the officials allowed a large number of activists to reach the place, though after restricting their movement in phases.

This time round there was a marked difference in the approach of the law enforcers who were quite aggressive when the PPP leaders and activists set about receiving their chairperson Benazir Bhutto at the Lahore airport.

Some PML-N local organisers and activists complained that the police detained many workers in different parts of Punjab and blocked their vehicles on GT Road and the motorway. PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal put the figures of those arrested at 1,800. Several hours before the arrival of Mr Sharif at the airport, the police and other law-enforcement deployments barricaded the access roads to the venue.

After 4pm, the police started blocking vehicles carrying party activists coming from The Mall, Ghazi Road Defence and Main Cantonment Road. However, after some time, they were allowed to reach the airport. The PML-N activists parked their vehicles on the road and marched towards the airport to defy obstacles.

Barricades at Mian Mir Bridge, Fortress Turn, Infantry and Aziz Bhatti road signals, Chowk Afshan, Mahfooz Shaheed Chowk, Haj Terminal and on three points on the New Airport Road made the distance of minutes a matter of hours.

CARAVAN BLOCKED: A caravan of 50 cars and 25 motorcycles, adorned with the PML-N flags and posters of Nawaz Sharif, besides vehicles of passengers travelling to the airport were stopped at the Haj Terminal around 4:45pm.

“We have been stopped on at least at 25 points during our journey from Rawalpindi to Lahore to welcome our leader Nawaz Sharif and sometimes we had to use the PML-Q stickers to hoodwink the police,” Abdullah Asim, PML-N youth wing vice-president (Rawalpindi city), told Dawn at the Haj Terminal point.

He claimed that all party leadership from his city, including Malik Shakeel Awan, was detained by the police to prevent them reaching Lahore.

Another party activist, Sajjad Khan, who travelled to Lahore from Faisalabad amid a caravan of 10 vehicles, said they faced police barricades in Sheikhupura, at Sherpao Bridge on Jail Road and then at Haj Terminal. He said the police blocked many vehicles carrying party workers on inter-city roads.

A senior Punjab police officer, requesting anonymity, claimed that not a single arrest of PML-N leaders and activists had been made. “That the vehicles were checked and occupants questioned in different parts of the province while entering the city was very much there in the wake of security concerns,” he said.

In the backdrop of security threats and suicide attacks in the recent past, he said, the police strategy was to allow the minimum number of activists to converge at the airport.

CHIEF MINISTER’S DENIAL: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Ejaz Nisar, in a statement, claimed that the government had not arrested any political worker or leader. He contradicted the news telecast by some private TV channels in this regard.

AIRPORT SECURITY: Heavy police contingent, mostly riot police, took over positions in and around the airport building, at parking area and at least one-kilometre circle before Nawaz Sharif’s arrival.

A chain of barricades was set up in and around the lounge from where the PML-N leader had to exit besides another chain set up 100 feet away from the lounge to restrict the workers. Also on the alert was the Airport Security Force on the airport premises, at parking area and around boundary walls.

A Rescue 1122 ambulance and fire-fighting truck was parked near the lounge.

The police thoroughly checked the tickets of passengers who had to wait for their entry in long queues of vehicles.