The proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) resumed its march from Gujranwala on Friday, with thousands of activists travelling in cars, buses and on foot continuing their journey towards Islamabad, a private TV channel reported.
Participants of the protest march spent the night near the general bus stand on the Grand Trunk Road and resumed their rally in the morning. The rally, which comprises around 5,000 participants, reached the Gujrat-Chenab toll plaza after stopping at Rahwali to offer Friday prayers. A heavy police contingent was deployed at the toll plaza.
The TV channel reported that the next TLP-police encounter was expected at two major security points that had been established at Chenab and Jhelum rivers. This time, sources said, the Rangers would lead the command, while the Punjab Police would assist them as per the standard guidelines issued since the government deployed Rangers in the province under a notification issued on Wednesday.
On Friday, hundreds of Rangers and police personnel were deployed at the Chenab toll plaza to counter the marchers. The security personnel also have armoured vehicles with them and are equipped with riot gear, according to police sources.
About 500 metres from the Chenab toll plaza, the Punjab Rangers marked a ‘red line’, and put up a notice nearby warning the protesters not to breach the line or face consequences. “Attention: Beyond this line, the responsibility for law and order lies with Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), who have been given the authority to open fire at the miscreants. All the people are strictly warned to return to their homes,” the banner installed by the paramilitary force reads.
Meanwhile, TLP workers also gathered outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) and Orangi Town. A TLP spokesperson, who only identified himself as Ali, said that workers were holding a demonstration outside the press club to show solidarity with workers who had been subjected to the “high-handedness” of officials in Punjab while marching to Islamabad.
In Rawalpindi, the authorities have blocked the entry and exit points to the city due to a feared disturbance in the law and order situation in the wake of the TLP march.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced that 32 members of a “proscribed organisation” had been arrested in a nighttime operation.
“These people were doing hateful propaganda through fake social media accounts and a major action has been started against fake news and propaganda,” he tweeted, saying further arrests would be made soon.
Separately, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif – alluding to the protest by the banned group – said: “When you undermine a legitimately and genuinely elected prime minister representing the will of the nation and attack parliament for petty political gains, you open the floodgates for chaos and anarchy.”
“The country is the ultimate sufferer. Time for a collective rethink is NOW!” he urged.
