PESHAWAR: Activists of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah and its likeminded religious groups staged protest rallies and blocked major highways in Peshawar and other towns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to protest the police’s crackdown on protesters at Faizabad Interchange, Rawalpindi.

However, the protesters remained peaceful.

A handful of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah activists occupied the Ring Road linking major arteries of the provincial capital with Grand Trunk Road and Motorway, and paralysed traffic. The protesters staged a sit-in at Jamil Chowk on the Ring Road and burnt old tyres.

The protest disrupted the traffic flow and caused worst traffic jam. They were chanting slogans against the federal government. Long queues of vehicles were seen on the road.

Religious groups stage rallies, block roads; JI chief calls for law minister’s resignation

Electronic media channels were taken off air while social media websites and apps were also blocked in Peshawar and other parts of the province.

Charged workers erected tents on the Ring Road in the evening. Activists announce that they would not end protest until their demands were accepted.

Police did not intervene to open the road. The blocked at the Ring Road shifted flow of traffic to other arteries passing through the city which choked traffic.

Workers of the religious groups also held rallies in the city. Protesters assembled in front of the press club and shouted slogans against the federal government.

Small groups of protesters holding banners proceeded to the Ring Road to join the sit-in.

The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah has emerged a new political group in KP as it contested the recent by-elections in NA-4, Peshawar.

It had bagged over 9,000 votes in the polls and outclassed major religious parties, including Jamaat-i-Islami.

The protest rallies and sit-in have also been reported in Malakand, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan divisions.

The rallies remained peaceful. The activists blocked the Karakoram Highway in Mansehra and Abbottabad districts of Hazara division.

Reacting to the government’s action against protesters at Faizabad Intersection, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq demanded the resignation of law minister Zahid Hamid and set free all arrested workers.

He told reporters in Timergara said when the government’s days were numbered, it began using force against innocent civilians.

The JI chief criticised the government for opting to the use of force against the protesters.

“Operation is not the solution,” he said, adding that the government should have taken the issue seriously.

He said either the law minister should be resigned or name the culprits involved in changes of ‘Namoos-i-Risalat’ law.

In Haripur, the activists of religious parties took out a procession against crackdown on Islamabad’s sit-in here on Saturday.

The workers of Pakistan Falah Party, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and Pakistan Awami Tehreek took to the streets.

The protesters shouted slogans against the PML-N government and blocked the busy GT Road for over 30 minutes.

However, the protesters while sensing the mood of the law-enforcement personnel shifted their sit-in to the side of the road and put up their camp and continued to shout slogans against the federal government intermittently.

In DI Khan, the activists of several religious groups blocked all major roads linking the city with Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Indus Highway was blocked in Paizo area. Both small and big rallies were also taken out in other towns of the district, which remained peaceful.

In Abbottabad, protesters blocked the Karakoram Highway for several hours in reaction to the police action against activists of a religious group in Islamabad.

They staged a sit-in and blocked the highway at Fawara Chowk. The police officials held talks with organisers after which they ended their protest.

The workers also staged rally in Mandian and blocked the main road causing traffic jams.

They also smashed the billboards and removed banners carrying pictures of Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders.

They also burnt old tyres and damaged billboards at Fawara Chowk, while portraits of Imran Khan and other PTI leaders were also removed.

Rallies were also taken out in Buner district of Malakand division.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2017