LAHORE, July 11: Plainclothesmen picked up three office-bearers of Hizbul Tehrir outside a hotel on The Mall on Friday evening.

A hotel staffer told this reporter on condition of anonymity that Hizbul Tehrir activists Naveed Butt, Taimur Khalid and Mohammad Saleem planned to hold a press conference at the hotel.

He said the three men were distributing pamphlets before speaking at the press conference when they were approached by six plainclothesmen.

On facing resistance, the plainclothesmen thrashed the Hizbul Tehrir office-bearers and bundled them into two vehicles that bore green number plates (IDP-335 and LXV-9503).

The staffer said some photographers, who were there to cover the press conference, were also manhandled by the plainclothesmen, who also seized a camera of one of them after giving him a sound thrashing.

The six men then drove away with the three Hizbul Tehrir men.

Cantonment SP Dr Usman Anwar, when contacted in this regard, expressed his ignorance about the incident. “Police have nothing to do with it.

We have neither made any arrest nor do we have any idea about the Hizbul Tehrir office-bearers and their activities.”