LAHORE, May 10: The PML-N claimed on Monday that its main offices were sealed by police and heavy contingent were deployed all over the city a day before Shahbaz Sharif's expected arrival here. The police, however, rejected the PML-N's claim, but said the force would be deployed there on Tuesday to 'maintain law and order.'
"We have not sealed any office and disconnected any phone line either," Lahore (operations) chief Aftab Cheema told Dawn. He also rejected reports that the PML-N had been allowed to hold a demonstration within a specific area.
"No such permission has been granted. Section 144 is imposed and no rally or procession can be permitted," Mr Cheema said. Meanwhile, hide and seek between the police and the PML-N activists continued. The police detained some workers and kept on removing posters.
Punjab PML-N vice-president Pir Binyamin Rizvi said the police raided the main offices on Monday morning and deputed men at the rooftop and outside. No one was allowed to leave or enter the offices, he added.
He claimed telephone lines of the offices had also been disconnected. Terming it a political victimization, he claimed that no one could stop them from according a warm welcome to the party chief.
Mr Rizvi said the sealed offices included the party's Punjab headquarters at Garden Town, its Lahore office in Mozang and the Shahbaz Sharif's Secretariat at Shah Alam. Policemen had also been deployed at several small offices in Lahore and elsewhere in the province, he maintained.
Later, the police and commandos from the Elite Force did a mock exercise in the evening. From Lahore canal on Upper Mall to Lahore airport, the commandos took their positions and performed their patrol duties.
A large number of policemen with the operations police chief in command visited the airport and checked for three hours the spots where the force would be deputed. Most of the personnel returned to their duties while some of them stayed at the airport.
"We do not intend to disturb public life or passengers," Mr Cheema said. He warned that no 'mischief monger' would be permitted to go to the airport. All entry and exist points, in the meantime, had been barricaded by the police to check those who would be coming to participate in the rally to receive Shahbaz Sharif.