KARACHI: Police detained more than 20 rights activists for a couple of hours on Thursday after they ‘insisted’ on marching towards CM House while participants in the outlawed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) rally near the same venue dispersed after being assured by the law enforcers of security for their leader.

The civil rights activists, led by Jibran Nasir, had earlier this week staged a two-day sit-in at the PIDC traffic intersection to condemn the Shikarpur attack and demanded action against proscribed organisations, including the ASWJ, and their leaders.

The sit-in, which attracted a small number of participants, ended on the government assurance that flags and graffiti of the banned outfits would be removed from the city in the first phase.

The rights activists re-emerged at the PIDC traffic intersection on Thursday evening an hour after the ASWJ diverted its big ‘Kashmir Day’ rally towards CM House to demand security for its Sindh chief, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi, that the group said had been withdrawn by the government.

The situation remained tense for a while when the police, anticipating some kind of clash between the two groups, blocked major road links to CM House and Governor House.

The rights activists argued that the government had banned the ASWJ in February 2012 and yet it was allowed to stage a rally.

Mr Nasir said he had received ‘threats’ from the banned outfit, a claim categorically denied by the ASWJ spokesman.

“The ASWJ has publicly threatened the civil society members through its Twitter account,” said Mr Nasir while speaking to Dawn. However, the ASWJ spokesman said that “we threatened neither Mr Nasir nor any other civil society member”.

“The ASWJ workers offered Asr and Maghrib prayers at the PIDC intersection,” said ASWJ spokesman Umer Ma’awia.

“We actually staged a demonstration at the PIDC intersection to demand the revival of security arrangements for our leader, Aurangzeb Farooqi, which have been withdrawn by the Sindh government recently. We are very concerned about his security and would consider the government responsible for any threat he faces.”

However, he said, the ASWJ rally dispersed peacefully after negotiations with the authorities, who assured that Mr Farooqi would be provided adequate security.

However the rights activists insisted on carrying on their show and attempted to move towards CM House, said a senior police official.

“We tried to convince them and even offered them a place for their protest so that traffic could move freely,” said DIG-South Barrister Abdul Khalique Sheikh. “But a few of them stuck to their point without any logical reason. They wanted to create a scene — which they did — and we detained them only for security reasons and merely to keep that sensitive area clear.”

He said the demonstrators were over 20 in number and were released after a couple of hours from the Frere police station. None of them was booked in any case, he added.

Asked about the police action on Thursday when the protesters were allowed to stage a sit-in on two consecutive days at the same place, he said there was a difference between the two situations.

“We didn’t want to arrest them. In fact they insisted on defying the set rules. During the sit-in, they agreed on a particular place to stage their demo but today they attempted to march on CM House. The same warning had been extended to the ASWJ and their rally participants dispersed after negotiations,” said DIG Sheikh.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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