SHEIKHUPURA, Oct 3: Nankana city police arrested in the early hours of Sunday the bar association secretary-general and two students in the backdrop of the attack on Gurdwara Janam Asthan a few days ago.

Nankana Bar Secretary General Anwar Zahid, who is also a union council Nazim, was arrested and sent to the Sheikhupura district jail. While two students - Allah Ditta and Imdad Husain - were also sent behind bars for allegedly taking out procession against vacation of their college building to convert into a hostel for Sikhs.

The police have already held the Nankana bar president and other senior lawyers. Meanwhile, lawyers in Nankana Sahib criticized the government for a crackdown on their colleagues. They vowed to continue their protest on Monday (today).

Lawyers, journalists, religious and social circles also have condemned the arrests of students and lawyers. Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chairman Sardar Mastan Singh and minority councillor Sardar Naam Singh said the Sikh community has no grievance against the lawyers and all those arrested.

The turmoil was the outcome of misunderstanding created by the anti-social elements. "Muslims and Sikhs residing in Nankana for the past more than five decades are like brothers and friends, and no misadventure had ever taken place that could hurt the sentiments of any of those."

DSP Shamsul Hassan Shah also convened a meeting of the peace committee comprising traders and religious scholars and discussed the prospects of peace in the city. They urged the DSP to set the arrested men free so that peace could be restored. Mr Shah assured the committee members that their views would be communicated to department higher-ups.