A court in Lahore on Tuesday ordered 92 workers of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to be sent to jail on judicial remand. They had been arrested a day earlier for trying to block an armoured vehicle carrying the party chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi following his appearance before an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

Rizvi had been brought a day earlier to the ATC for the hearing of a case registered against him and five other party leaders — who were also produced before the court — for damaging public property during violent protests against a Supreme Court verdict that acquitted Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case last year.

Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Nadeem Niazi heard the case regarding the 92 workers at Cantt Kachhery (Lahore Cantonment Court of Law) as the ATC was shut due to the public holiday on account of Kashmir Day.

A case was registered against the 92 workers at the Race Course Police Station under Sections 290, 291, 147, 149, 186, 353 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and Section 6 of the Punjab Sound Systems Regulation Act, 2015.

In his written order, the magistrate said the investigation against the workers was still underway. They are to be presented in the ATC on February 19 under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).