http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/
Lahore under ‘police siege’ before Shahbaz arrival
By Sajjad Shafiq Butt
LAHORE: The city of PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif was virtually under police siege amid raids and countless arrests before he entered Heathrow Airport for catching a flight to his country after spending some three years and five months in exile.
The police contingents equipped with all the paraphernalia while intensifying patrolling in downtown areas sealed off entry and exit points to and from the provincial metropolis and completed preparations for frustrating plans of the PML-N leaders and activists for according a rousing welcome to their president on his arrival here today.
The police have already been reported to have cordoned off the houses of all the noted PML-N leaders. A large number of activists, approximately 2,200 have been arrested and shifted to unknown destinations.
The PML-N offices in New Garden Town had also been sealed off by the police force and nobody was being allowed to leave or enter the office, witnesses revealed.
There were reports regarding the police high-handedness at almost all the exit points in general and entry points in particular. The personnel did not allow vehicles to enter the metropolis carrying any ‘suspected’ PML-N activist or leader from any other district.
The policemen deployed at the River Ravi Bridge were accused of checking the NICs of the motorists besides their licences and vehicles documents to check the entry of any PML-N ‘mischievous element’.
“Who are you? From where are you coming? Where are you going and what is the purpose of your visit?” were the questions asked from the motorists by the policemen at the entry points.
Well-placed sources said the personnel of the law-enforcing and intelligence agencies had been strictly directed to comb each and every vehicle to spoil the ‘welcome show’ of Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
“We have been directed by the top officials in Islamabad and military headquarters to round up the leaders and activists of the PML-N,” the sources said while adding that main task assigned to them was to harass the party workers. The policemen, sources said, had been given a free hand to teach an exemplary lesson to PML-N ‘trouble-makers’.
“A meeting was held here Monday which was participated by the top level bureaucrats and police high-ups,” the sources said and added that the police were directed to arrest each and every leader and activist. “Smash the windscreens of the vehicles if the PML-N leaders resist arrest,” the sources said while quoting the minutes of the meeting.
The sources further informed that a top level official also directed the police hierarchy not to repeat the ‘infamous feat’ like that of the opposition leader Qasim Zia in front of the Punjab Assembly.
It may be mentioned here that almost one year ago SP Tahir Alam was made a scapegoat and transferred to Dera Ghazi Khan for showing ‘lenient attitude’ with the arrested opposition leaders. Since then the SP has been trying his level best to get back to Lahore but to no avail. These days he is on a three-month leave.
At least 200 policemen raided Shataj Hotel of a noted PML-N worker Syed Wasif Ali Shah, took a detailed search of every room and office and intimidated the people present there. The ransacking of the luggage was going on till the filing of this report.
The police on other hand launched a massive campaign and scratched posters from walls and removed banners from the roads. The posters displaying photos of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan were also being scratched, collected, and set on fire by policemen patrolling the metropolis. The cops on such a duty had been equipped with ladders and other material required for the assignment.
What is mushraff scaredof. If Shahbaz done anything wrong, then arrest him and make him stand for trial.