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| Anti-US rally outsmarts Lahore Police |
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Monday, June 01, 2009
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Hundreds of proscribed Hizbut Tahrir activists on Sunday held an anti-US rally and dispersed before the police raid that merely resulted in the arrest of 60 people, most of them passers-by and some HT activists.
Police intelligence failed to determine the exact venue of the HT rally and rally participants gathered near the Civil Secretariat instead of Nasir Bagh, the original venue of the rally. Those arrested by the police were taken to the Islampura Police Station and no FIR was lodged against them till the filing of this report.
Activists of the banned outfit succeeded in deceiving the police with hundreds of them marching from Chauburji to Civil Secretariat area.The rally was scheduled to start from Nasir Bagh and disperse at the Regal Chowk and a large number of police contingents were deployed at Nasir Bagh to obstruct the gathering.
Interestingly, police personnel deployed on the occasion arrested every bearded passer-by, mistaking them for HT activists. Police arrested eight people, including a former Pashto film actor turned preacher Bashir Jaffery. Similarly, Khalid Khan, a student of the Government College University visiting Nasir Bagh, Shoaib, Sabur Khan, Gulrez Iqbal, Abdul Majeed (all from Lahore) and two Pashtun boys passing near the historic garden were also arrested and taken to the Islampura Police station.
Meanwhile, HT leaders, who were scheduled to reach Nasir Bagh from various areas of the city, changed the route of the rally and headed towards the Civil Secretariat from Chauburji. Hundreds of HT activists, carrying black flags and banners, condemning the US, chanted vociferous slogans against the Obama administration. The participants demanded an end to the US interference in affairs of Muslim countries.
After staying in front of the Civil Secretariat for nearly half-an-hour and chanting slogans against the US, the leaders of the banned outfit asked its members to disperse. On the other hand, policemen waiting near Nasir Bagh for hours arrived at the spot after the rally participants had dispersed.
Police then cracked down on activists returning from the rally and baton charged them as well as the passers-by. Interestingly, customers shopping near the spot were also arrested by the police.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
