Punjab government on Saturday slapped complete ban on all public gatherings in the province as authorities launched a crackdown against supporters of a religious cleric whose party recently paralysed the country with violent protests over the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
According to the notification, Section 144 has been enforced until December 1 to prevent any untoward incident in the province. Punjab Additional Chief Secretary Fazeel Asghar said the decision has been taken in view of the sensitivity of the current situation. “Any political rally or protest could be used as soft target for a terrorist attack,” he added.
The move comes a day after Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi was taken into custody along with other party leaders and workers during a raid at his house in Lahore. Police said hundreds of TLP supporters have been detained in efforts to ‘maintain the public order’.
The arrests came ahead of a scheduled party rally on Sunday in Islamabad. “We are detaining supporters of TLP across the province to avoid any backlash after the arrest of their leaders,” Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan said. “Police has been deployed in all major cities of the province to deal with any untoward incident. There is a complete ban on all type of political gatherings in the province,” he added.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the detention of Rizvi has to do nothing with the Asia Bibi case. “Khadim Hussain Rizvi has been taken into protective custody by police and shifted to a guest house after he refused to withdraw a call for further protests on Sunday. It’s to safeguard public life, property and order … law shall take its course and it cannot be left to individuals,” he tweeted.
Fawad said the TLP leader insisted to come to Rawalpindi for a protest on Nov 25, and refused government’s proposal not to do so. He said the government did its best to convince the TLP leadership, but they refused every offer and tried to incite violence. He urged the people to stay peaceful and calm and said the State was responsible to fully defend the finality and respect of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). A notification issued by the Punjab government said the cleric will be detained for 30 days. The notification said there was ‘credible’ information that the cleric would create a law and order situation on November 25. A spokesman for Punjab chief minister’s office said Rizvi’s second-in-command, Afzal Qadri, has also been detained. “Afzal Qadri and Khadim Rizvi have been sent to jail. Qadri has been admitted to the jail’s hospital. A crackdown is underway across Punjab against TLP activists,” Shahbaz Gill said.
Early on Saturday, clashes took place in Karachi between paramilitary forces and the protestors over the arrest of Rizvi. At least five people were wounded in last night’s clashes between Rizvi’s supporters and police in Lahore after police arrested the cleric. Rizvi had urged his supporters to take to the streets if he was arrested. In a video message released late Friday night, TLP leader Pir Afzal Qadri had also called for fresh protests, saying police had arrested dozens of party workers in Karachi and Lahore.
Published in Daily Times, November 25th 2018.