LAHORE, June 12: Police have started on Monday night a fresh drive for the arrest of activists and Khaksar Tehrik chief Hameedudin Al-Mashriqi is the most prominent of those taken in custody.

He was arrested from his home on Zaildar Road, Ichhra, in a raid at around one after midnight and the party accused police of harassing their leader’s family members.

The Khaksar Tehrik on Tuesday announced a rally against the arrest from Nasser Bagh on June 14 up to the Lahore High Court building also to show solidarity with the struggle of lawyers and journalists.

The police started arrests of political activists on June 4. They stopped raids later in the week but resumed exactly a week later. Political parties claimed that the number of workers arrested from all over Punjab was between 500 and 600. They were later sent to different prisons in the province to serve detention for one to three months under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

Lahore police sources claimed the arrest of around 60 activists of all the major parties last week in Lahore alone.

However, the police have not confirmed any new arrests in the city.

Meanwhile, all major political parties said more of their workers were arrested in the fresh campaign but have not given the exact number of the arrested workers. They said they were still in the dark and would be able to give details on Wednesday.

However, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the PPP and the PML-N have separately held meetings to condemn arrests and demanded release of all the activists. The PPP said the police arrested former MPA Dr Ziaullah Bangash from Shad Bagh, Liaquaqt Ansari from Green Town and Mualana Yousuf Awan from Township.

PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali claimed that the police arrested another 150 party activists from different parts of the province.

LABOUR PARTY: Meanwhile, the Labour Party Pakistan on Tuesday held its first demonstration against the arrest of activists in general and its secretary-general Farooq Tariq in particular.