RAWALPINDI: Hundreds of people, majority of them opposition party workers, arrested for violating a ban on pillion riding and Section 144 were crammed into the high security barrack in Adiala jail while over 100 were kept in the foyer of the prison on Sunday night.

Seven of the arrested people belonged to Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), who were allegedly involved in the attack on Pakistan Television Station building in Islamabad.

According to the jail authorities, 620 people arrested from the twin cities were shifted to the jail on Saturday and out of them 532 were released on Sunday. However, 150 more people were brought to the jail on Sunday night.

On the other hand, the 87 people arrested by the Rawalpindi police were sent to the jail for 15 days on the direction of the district coordination officer on Sunday.

Among those detained in Rawalpindi were university students who had nothing to do with the sit-ins in Islamabad.

“My son Wajih Nasir, a university student, along with his four friends was returning home in a car after shopping in Islamabad when they were stopped by the Airport police at a checkpost,” said Nasir Mehmood, adding only one of the occupants of the car, whose wedding was to be held next week, was allowed to go.

“What was my son’s fault? He had nothing to do with any political party. He is a student and now he shall miss his classes on Monday,” he added while talking to Dawn.

Professor Ali Rizwan of the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, was running from pillar to post to get his five students released from the Naseerabad police.

The students were going to the university when they were detained by the police for violating Section 144 which prohibits gathering of five or more people. They unsuccessfully tried their best to convince the police that they had nothing to do with the opposition protests.

Since the government imposed Section 144 and banned pillion riding on Friday night, the city police officer tasked every SHO in Rawalpindi to arrest 50 people each. In an effort to get appreciations, every station house officer set out to meet the target and rounded up people randomly.

According to official sources, 70 cases were registered with different police stations in Rawalpindi involving more than 350 people though none of the political leaders was booked on the charge of violating Section 144.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2014