Arrests, blockades ahead of CJP’s Karachi visit

* Sindh official says 15,000 police and paramilitary soldiers deployed for security
* Lawyers, political and other groups set to accord warm welcome

Staff Report

KARACHI: An estimated 500 opposition political workers were arrested from late Thursday night onwards ahead of the chief justice’s rally scheduled for today (Saturday).

Chaudhry is set to address lawyers and opposition party supporters here, while tensions rose after pro-Musharraf parties said they would hold rival demonstrations at the same time.

The pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said it was holding a counter-rally on Saturday because opposition parties were politicising the CJP’s suspension issue. The CJP and his supporters will hold their rally at Sindh High Court while the MQM will gather about one kilometre away, on the city’s main boulevard.

The police started conducting raids in a midnight operation across the city, but the police chief said the number was much lower.

“Official records show around 170 arrests,” CCPO Azhar Ali Farooqui told Daily Times on Friday evening. “The arrests were made to maintain law and order,” he added.

Police sources said that most of the political workers arrested belonged to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, Sunni Tehreek and the Pakistan People’s Party. They said that the PPP workers were mostly arrested from Malir, Bin Qasim and Lyari areas, while the JI workers were lifted from Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulberg and North Nazimabad. Members of various trade unions were also targeted in the operation.

The sources said that the government had decided on Friday evening that the arrested people would be booked under the ‘Naqs-e-Aman’ Section 151. They said that the arrested workers would be released on Monday. Police acting on government orders removed camps on Thursday set up by both sides in the city, which has a history of ethnic and religious violence.

The PPP said 300 of its workers were seized, while the MMA said more than 500 of its activists were detained, AFP reported. “We have taken all possible security measures in view of the highly charged atmosphere and over 15,000 police and paramilitary rangers have been deployed,” Sindh Interior Secretary Brig Ghulam Muhammad Muhtaram said. “The situation is tense and we are holding negotiations with all parties in order to avoid clashes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the legal fraternity, political and religious parties, non-government organisations and civil society groups are set to give a warm welcome to the CJP when he arrives here today (Saturday).

The CJP will leave for Karachi from Islamabad at 10am, Online reported, adding that he was scheduled to lead the rally to the Sindh High Court at 12pm.

The Sindh Home Department has imposed Section 144 in Karachi and has also advised the CJP to change his route or the schedule due to security reasons. However, Sindh Home Department Adviser Wasim Akhtar said that Section 144 has not been imposed in Karachi, according to Online.

Public transport disappeared from Karachi’s roads on Friday evening, while all shopping markets along the route of the CJP’s rally will remain closed on Saturday due to the tense situation in the city.

Citizens of Karachi are expected to stay indoors on Saturday following television reports that the Sindh Home Department had asked government hospitals situated on the rally’s route to remain alert on Saturday keeping in view the tense environment in the provincial capital.

In another development late on Friday night, empty shipping containers were used to block all four sides of the Sindh High Court. The roads leading to the SHC building from the Arts Council, the Sindh Assembly, MPAs Hostel and Saddar and Burns Road were blocked with the containers.