Students raising anti-PM slogans released on Nawaz’s order

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Saturday took notice of the arrest of four players and ordered their immediate release.

A statement from the PM House said that the prime minister responded to reports which said that the police arrested the players who raised anti-government slogans at the closing ceremony of the Pakistan Railways Sports Championship.

A private TV channel reported that the students, who were participating in a sport competition, were taken into custody for allegedly chanting slogans against the prime minister during the event’s awards ceremony at the Railways Stadium in Lahore.

The incident occurred when Railways Minister Saad Rafique was making a speech at the railways athletics championship’s awards ceremony when the students in the crowd started chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go.’ This allegedly angered the Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders and the students were arrested.

According to another student, a fellow participant of the detained players, said that the students were innocent. He explained that when Saad Rafique was making his speech some students started chanting slogans. However, when their team’s senior players came down after the ceremony, they were beaten up by the police and then taken into custody.

“We are completely innocent,” he remarked. This was reiterated by another player, who said the slogans were being chanted by school children. “We did no wrong. We came here as athletes,” she remarked. He also said that the police then started beating up the players and took them into custody, even though they did not chant any slogans.

Speaking on the matter, Railways spokesperson Najam Wali said that the students were detained because they politicised an apolitical event. Saad Rafique did not make a political speech yet the students tried to politicise the matter, he said. “We didn’t like that the slogans were being chanted,” he accepted. “People came to the event to promote sports not politics,” he added.