MULTAN, March 3: A clash between police and demonstrators protesting against Quetta, Baghdad and Karbala incidents here on Wednesday when the former tried forcefully to deny them access to a city intersection.
Various Shia organizations had given a call to hold protest demonstrations on Wednesday against the massacres occurred simultaneously in Quetta, Baghdad and Karbala on Yaum-i-Ashur.
MDA Chowk was fixed as the point to gather after marching through various areas of the city to organize the protest. A procession was brought out from the Suraj Miani area that was set to reach MDA Chowk when a heavy police contingent led by Saddar ASP Sikandar Hayat stopped it a few furlongs from the intersection.
The protesters however, tried to push their way to the intersection. On it, the ASP reportedly ordered baton charge which was equally answered by the people who pelted stones at the law enforcers.
The policemen intensified the charge when official vehicle of the ASP was damaged by the stones thrown by the protesters.
Later, the police resorted to shelling of tear gas and arrested some 20 people. The move though compelled the people to retreat, they resumed their protest by burning tyres at Alamdar Abbas Chowk near Suraj Miani.
Protesters' leader Tanvirul Kazim claimed that they wanted to stage a peaceful protest but the police brought the matter to the sorry end. He alleged that the police did not allow them to mourn the deaths of innocent people. The government wanted to convert Shias into a minority through oppression, he added.
He vowed that the protesters would not leave the Alamdar Chowk until the release of the arrested people. A large number of protesters were present in the streets in Suraj Miani area till the filing of this report late night.
When contacted, DPO Hamid Mukhtar Gondal said the people of Suraj Miani earlier on Tuesday night had tried to stage a protest but they were pacified with assurance that the Balochistan government was tracking down the killers.
He said though the police did not arrest any of the protesters, some of them were taken into protective custody. All the people taken into custody had been set free on the assurance of area Nazim. He claimed that the situation was under control.
Mailsi: Mailsi police arrested three people who attacked an Imambargah in Fatehpur, some 100 kms south-east of Multan, on Monday night and injured two mourners, Khawar Abbas and Abrar Shah, adds PPI.
The arrested men have been identified as Gulzar, Mumtaz and Mushtaq. Meanwhile, panic spread in the imambargah Tibba Habib Shah in Bhakkar on Monday night when a rumour spread that an alleged terrorist had entered the imambargah to plant a bomb.
"A youth jumped into the imambargah in Kot Jam, Bhakkar, some 110 kms south-west of Multan, on Monday. The guards fired shots in the air and he managed to run away taking advantage of darkness. The building was thoroughly searched later but nothing was found," said the Bhakkar DPO.