Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters arrived at Lahore’s Shahdara Bridge late on Friday night as the religious party attempted to march towards Islamabad and hold an anti-Israel rally in front of the US embassy.
A party spokesman said sunrise.com who have stopped the march at night.
TO sunrise.com A correspondent in Lahore reported earlier on Friday evening that protesters were trying to clear obstacles at the city’s Chauburji Chowk and march forward.
A statement from Edhi’s spokesman Younis Bhatti said several police officers had been injured in clashes with TLP protesters. The statement added that Edhi volunteers transported the injured personnel to various hospitals in the city.
Meanwhile, TLP spokesperson Usman Naushahi said sunrise.com that one of the protesters had died and 22 were injured.
Before the march, without naming the TLP, the US embassy in Islamabad posted on social media platform
“These protests may cause traffic delays/detours due to closed or blocked roads in the vicinity of the protests. The duration of the protests is unknown. We advise US citizens to avoid large gatherings and remain aware of their surroundings,” the embassy said in the post.
‘More than a dozen police and Rangers personnel injured’
Minister of State for Home Affairs Tallal Chaudhry criticized the TLP for violence during its protest in Lahore, stating that mass politics no longer had a place in Pakistan.
“The Pakistani government and state are absolutely clear that protesting is a political, religious and fundamental right, but it has been enshrined in the Constitution with certain terms and conditions,” the state minister said at a press conference.
“If people want to exercise their right to protest, they must do so in accordance with our conditions.”
Chaudhry noted that the TLP had attracted mobs to protests and attacked security forces in the past, leading to deaths and “damage to our image.”
“Mass rule has no place in Pakistan,” Chaudhry emphasized.
Noting that a peace pact had been reached between Hamas and Israel, with which the people of Gaza were happy, he asked what the purpose of the protest was.
“I will give the media images showing them using sticks, chemicals, glass balls and tennis balls with nails lodged in them,” he added. “They fire them at police and Ranger personnel like slingshots and have injured more than a dozen of them.
“This mob, numbering less than 2,000 people, left their headquarters in Samanabad and headed towards Ravi Road via Bund Road. They succeeded because the police did not use force,” the minister said. “There were some blockades, but no force was used.”
The minister maintained that “the police personnel deployed there were not equipped with anything other than riot control equipment.”
“The armed men guarding the DIG who supervised the operation or [security measures] “They were also unarmed,” he added.
The minister added that when TLP leaders claimed that their workers had suffered injuries, CCTV footage showed supporters and workers of the religious party shooting in the air and also destroying cameras deployed as part of the Safe City project. “Why did they do it if they were peaceful?”
Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Parliamentary Secretary Asia Ishaq also questioned that if the people of Palestine were happy with the recent peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, then why was the TLP coming to the capital to protest?
Internet services suspended in twin cities
Before the march began, roads were blocked in Islamabad and mobile internet services were suspended. In anticipation of the protest, the Islamabad administration had also started placing shipping containers at Faizabad Interchange, the historic site of several TLP sit-ins.
Today it emerged that the Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to suspend 3G and 4G services in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
A directive dated October 9 and addressed to the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stated that the ministry had “granted approval to suspend 3G/4G services in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with effect from 12 am tonight until further orders.”
The letter, a copy of which is available with sunrise.comdirected the PTA to take “further necessary steps” in this regard in coordination with the Islamabad Police Commissioner and Chief, and the Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer.
The ministry did not provide a reason for suspending services, but the development comes amid other measures authorities are taking ahead of the TLP protest.
Traffic plan
Islamabad traffic police also issued a diversion plan, referring to the “law and order” situation in Faizabad area.
The plan, posted on Islamabad Police’s X account, said that all heavy vehicles would not be allowed to enter the federal capital until further orders and detailed diversion routes for smaller vehicles around the Faizabad area.
TO Sunrise The report, citing sources, earlier said that around 500 containers would be used to seal the Red Zone in Islamabad, which covers Ataturk Avenue, Third Avenue, Margalla Road and Khayaban-i-Suharwardy, as well as entry and exit points of the capital.
These containers were being placed at key locations including Serena Chowk, Express Chowk, Nadra Chowk, Agha Khan Road near Marriott Hotel, Margalla Road near Trail 3 and Luqman Hakeem Road. Other blockades were being set up at Zero Point of Faisal Avenue and Faisal Chowk, the report said.
He added that the entry points to the capital from Rawat T-Cross, Chungi No 26 and Faizabad will also be sealed with containers. Metrobus and electric bus services on 21 different routes were suspended on Thursday night and will remain suspended today as well.
Some educational institutions also announced closures in view of the demonstration and the State’s preparations to counter it.
There are also reports of blocked roads in Jhelum and Jhelum.
Police were also deployed at the Peshawar highway toll plaza, with large containers placed on the road and the route to Islamabad closed. Vehicles traveling on the road were asked to reverse.
Security measures and arrests
Separately, according to a Sunrise According to the report, police in the capital had begun detaining local TLP leaders, activists and workers, detaining at least 280 people on Thursday.
The report said that around 7,000 security personnel, including 5,500 police officers, 1,000 border police and 500 rangers, would be deployed across the capital to intercept the TLP rally and maintain law and order. Armored personnel carriers (APCs) and vehicles equipped with anti-riot equipment, including tear gas shells and rubber bullets, would also be deployed at several locations.
To prevent any law and order situation in Rawalpindi, the police and city administration imposed Section 144 till October 11 and sealed the main entry and exit routes with over 300 containers.
Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit a gathering of four or more people in an area for a limited period.
As part of the security plan, more than 6,500 police personnel, including 1,150 traffic police, contingents of Punjab Police and the newly formed Riot Management Police (RMP), have been deployed in Rawalpindi. Personnel from other districts have also been called in to assist local forces.
On Thursday, Minister of State for Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry said the government had always allowed peaceful marches and demonstrations, however, the TLP had not sought permission for its protest in the capital.
Section 144 imposed in Punjab
Late on Thursday, violence also broke out in Punjab after police launched an offensive on the TLP headquarters in a bid to arrest its chief, Saad Rizvi. The clashes left several injured, including a dozen police officers.
An October 8 order of the Punjab Home Department, a copy of which is available with sunrise.comHe says that article 144 has been imposed in the province for 10 days.
The order states that the Punjab government has received credible reports from law enforcement and intelligence agencies indicating a “serious and imminent threat to public peace, tranquility and security of life and property throughout the province.”
“Multiple alerts have been received of credible threats, relating to possible planned terrorist activities by hostile groups, including RAW, TTP, BLA, Daesh, etc., targeting Muslim minorities or scholars to trigger sectarian unrest. Assemblies, rallies, rallies, sit-ins, processions, demonstrations, jalsa, etc., could present a convenient target for such attacks terrorists and the possibility of an untoward incident cannot be ruled out.
“[…] “There is a strong fear that certain political, sectarian or anti-social elements may engage in activities, assemblies, meetings or demonstrations that are likely to cause a disturbance of public peace, disturb public order and create a safety risk to the general public and critical infrastructure,” the order said.
In addition to prohibiting the gathering of four or more people, the order also imposes restrictions on carrying, brandishing and displaying weapons in public spaces, prohibiting the “misuse of loudspeakers, public address systems and audio amplifier devices for provocative, sectarian or inflammatory content” and prohibiting the publication, dissemination or display of provocative, hateful or sectarian material.
A notification from Punjab University, also available with sunrise.comHe said the varsity would remain closed today, as per government instructions.
Meanwhile, a statement from the deputy director of media and production of the Punjab Public Service Commission said that the examinations for the post of Sub-Divisional Officer of the Punjab Law Enforcement and Regulatory Authority, scheduled for October 11 and 12, had been postponed following the imposition of Section 144. However, the statement did not specify a new date for the examinations.
Additional reporting by Nauman Liaquat and Hamid Asghar
