QUETTA, Oct 14: Troops started patrolling various localities of Quetta in the afternoon as Jamiat Ulema Islam and its supporters prepared for a protest meeting on Monday against the government’s decision to offer facilities to US forces.

Sources in the provincial administration explained that army contingents were patrolling the city as a reserve force and the actual responsibility of maintaining law and order was with the police and Frontier Corps.

“Eight strategic points have been identified in the city where police checkpoints have been set up,” an authoritative source in the provincial government told Dawn on Sunday.

The Secretary-General of Jamiat Ulema Islam, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, has already declared that Monday’s strike and rallies would be something “unprecedented in Pakistan” and would be a sort of referendum against this government.

Over 2,500 police personnel with the back up support from the Frontier Corpse have been assigned the task to protect the business centres, banks and other installations here.

A series of top-level meetings of the Balochistan administration were held in the last two days to prevent a repeat of police lapses witnessed last Monday and Tuesday.

Balochistan police effectively prevented on Sunday the entry of over 300 JUI supporters into Jacobabad from the border town of Jhat Pat in Naseerabad district. “The protestors were allowed to hold a meeting in Balochistan and were persuaded to return to their homes,” a well-placed source confided. There are reports that a small number of protestors managed to sneak into Jacobabad by taking a longer route rather than going from the highway.

Authorities are firm to check involvement of Afghan refugees in demonstrations. Sources said out of over 300 people arrested in connection with the troubles that erupted last Monday and Tuesday, at least 100 were Afghan refugees.

“We are documenting them,” the source said. He explained that finger prints, names of the arrested persons and details of their families and their places of origin were being documented. The police did not have information technology support and were seeking assistance of some institutions to preserve this information.

“All Afghan refugees found involved in the acts of arson and loot and plunder will be deported with their family members,” the source said, pointing out that information record would effectively prevent their return to Pakistan from any place or their settlement anywhere.

“The idea is to convey a message that Afghan refugees are aliens in this country and they should stay away from all such activities that cause financial damages and loss of life,” he said. There was nothing against those Afghan refugees who respect law and were keeping away from undesirable activities, he stressed.