LAHORE: Police arrested over two dozen workers and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) on Wednesday from Lahore, who were gathering at Chairing Cross to show solidarity with their fellow protestors, who have been staging a sit-in for over a week in the federal capital.
According to the details, workers of TLY started gathering at Chairing Cross on Mall Road on Wednesday and chanted slogans in support of the finality of prophethood. They also chanted slogans in the favour of their fellow protestors who have been staging a sit-in at Faizabad interchange in the capital for more than a week.
The workers of TLY were also carrying different banners and placards inscribed with slogans supporting the finality of the prophethood, while also demanding the resignation of the Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid.
Soon after they started chanting slogans, over two dozen protestors were arrested by the police and shifted to two police stations of the city. As many as 21 workers of TLY, including seven children, were shifted to Civil Lines police station, while 13 persons were taken to the Old Anarkali police station.
It is worth mentioning here that just over a thousand workers of TLY have paralysed the routine life in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi since the last nine days, as they continued their demonstration at Faizabad interchange under the leadership of firebrand and controversial religious scholar Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi.
The protesters were demanding the resignation of Law Minister Zahid Hamid over an amendment to the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat clause in the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017.
On the other hand, the government had been trying to resolve the matter amicably and had made attempts to negotiate with the protesters. The situation got worse on Tuesday when a clash between police personnel and workers of TLY erupted in Islamabad, that left six officials of law enforcement agencies injured. Police arrested over two dozen workers of TLY in the aftermath of the clash as a station house officer (SHO) was also injured during the clash.
It merits mention here that the TLY had presented a 12-point charter of demands, in light of which the State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry, who was also a part of the team who negotiated with the protesters, termed most of the demands as unlawful and illegal. According to well-placed sources, TLY wanted some relaxation on the ban imposed on the use of loudspeakers at public rallies, and also demanded the exclusion of the names of some religious scholars from the Fourth Schedule.
Meanwhile, talking to Pakistan Today, TLY leader Sheikh Azhar Hussain Rizvi, who contested the NA-120 by-election from Lahore, confirmed the arrest of his workers from Lahore. He said that the police had arrested peaceful workers who were just recording their protest by standing near Chairing Cross, adding that the gathering did not disrupt traffic during the peaceful protest.
“Our protests in Islamabad and other cities will continue till the resignation of Zahid Hamid,” Rizvi said, while adding that the government was not serious in negotiating with the religious party as the members of negotiating team did not even had the basic knowledge of Islam.