ISLAMABAD/RAWAL-PINDI, Feb 19: Hundreds of opposition activists defied a ban on rallies and barricades erected by police to reach Islamabad to join what turned out to be the second violent protest in the capital in six days against blasphemous cartoons.
The protest was called by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance of six religious parties but was also joined by other opposition parties in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
The security forces, who had sealed Islamabad after the government banned a protest rally, repeatedly fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds at the capital’s Aabpara market, triggering unrest mainly among MMA activists who were waiting in various part of the city to reach there.
Thousands of riot police and paramilitary rangers had been deployed in the twin cities, many of them guarding foreign missions and installations.
Several people, including a deputy superintendent of Islamabad police, three of his subordinates and a woman passerby, were injured while scores of people, including Jamaat-i-Islami secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan were taken into custody by police.
The clash between the police and protesters started at Aabpara chowk when the main leaders of the MMA and ARD were speaking to reporters and suddenly a teargas shell fired by police landed near them.
It created panic among MMA’s leaders and also triggered unrest among the JI activists who appeared from all sides on seeing the shelling. The police used batons to stop the protesters who wanted to reach at Aabpara chowk to join their leaders.
Soon afterwards the Aabpara chowk area turned into a battle- field as clouds of thick smoke of teargas spread over a vast area.
Due to heavy teargassing, some women carrying their minor children came out of their homes situated around the Aabpara area. The terror-stricken women begged police to stop teargassing as their children faced breathing problems due to suffocation.
Clashes between the police and the protesters continued for more than three hours during which no damage to public property was reported. However the situation calmed down after the district administration held talks with MMA’s leaders and allowed them to stage a peaceful procession.
Three police personnel and seven civilians who sustained injuries during clashes were treated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) hospital, doctors there said. DSP Malik Mumtaz was among the injured.
In Rawalpindi, tension remained high throughout the day as hundreds of police and paramilitary troops had been deployed to prevent people from going to Islamabad or stage rally in the city. However, a hide and seek between the police and protesters continued in different parts of the city throughout the day.
Besides taking more than one hundred activists into custody, the police also detained National Assembly members Zamurrad Khan of the PPP and Hanif Abbasi of the MMA, Jamaat-i-Islami secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan, PML-N leader Sardar Naseem and MPA Chaudhry Iyaz of MMA.
The protesters damaged two police posts at Faizabad, set old tyres on fire on Chaklala Road, Faizabad, Iqbal Road, and Sadiqabad. On seeing the police, the protesters dispersed into streets.
Several markets of Rawalpindi were shut down apparently for fear of rioting although the MMA had not given a call for a general strike.
Petrol and CNG stations were covered with tents and sheets of cloth, while all exit and entry points were being watched by the security personnel.
HOSTELS RAIDED: A police party led by DPO Saud Aziz raided a private hostel in Shamsabad in which students from the earthquake-stricken areas of Muzafarrabad, Azad Kashmir, were residing and rounded up more than two dozens of them, witnesses said.
They said police charged the students with batons, dragged them out and shifted them to some undisclosed place.
In a similar raid, police rounded up several persons, mostly working men from another private hostel near the Rawalpindi cricket stadium.