Operation launched to recover 12 kidnapped cops, Rangers: No compromise on state writ, says govt

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar's aide Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that "miscreants" armed with petrol bombs attacked the Nawankot Police Station, taking 12 policemen hostage and leaving six injured.

Sharing a statement by the Lahore police, she said that owing to the attack, in which the attackers used petrol bombs and bottles of acid, Rangers and police personnel were trapped inside the police station.

The miscreants held the deputy superintendent of police hostage at gunpoint, along with 11 other policemen, and drove them to their markaz (comprising a mosque and madrassah) nearby.

Aside from attacking the police station and kidnapping officials, the miscreants also stole an oil tanker carrying 50,000 litres of petrol, she said. Awan, confirming the same, said that any action taken was in self-defence and to rescue the police officers taken hostage.

She said that in clashes this week between protesters and police, six police personnel were martyred, while more than 700 were injured. Police and other law enforcing agencies till our going to the press could not recover the abducted DSP, and other personnel.

All efforts for negotiations have been rejected by the banned TLP. Saad's brother Anas met him in jail on 17th who told him to ask the TLP Shura to give up but the Shura blatantly rejected his order and resorted to violence.

Law enforcement agencies have uprooted 115 protests, road blocks and sit-ins in Punjab province. Talking to the media during his visit to a Ramazan bazaar at Sector G-7/2 in the federal capital, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the government was not holding any talks with Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leadership and the writ of the state would be established at any cost.

He said: “Nothing is in my notice and no such negotiations are under way with the TLP. “We negotiated with them for two or three months, but they were not ready to withdraw their agenda. The writ of the government would be established at any cost,” the minister warned.

He said that the bank accounts and computerised national identity cards (CNICs) of the banned outfit’s leaders had been blocked and the movement of the office-bearers of the proscribed organisation had been restricted. He said that a three-day notice was served on the party before banning it, and there was one-month time for them to submit replies to the notices.

“Blasphemy is unacceptable for us all, and Prime Minister Imran Khan also gave that message to the world that disrespect to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) would not be tolerated,” he added. The interior minister said that the TLP would be completely banned by April 20 and the government might make a decision regarding disbanding it as political party. "If this happens, the law ministry, attorney general for Pakistan and Law Minister Farogh Naseem would be working on it and a reference would be filed."

He said that 192 locations across the country had been sealed by the banned outfit and 191 points had been cleared. At Chowk Yateem Khana in Lahore, where the Jamia Masjid Rahmatul-Lil-Alameen is located, the situation was still a bit tense. However, all roads including the GT Road, Motorway, Murree Road, Islamabad Expressway, etc., have been open for traffic, he added.

Policemen were martyred in violent acts, while some persons on their side also lost their lives, he said, adding that no would be allowed to create unrest in the country. Sh Rashid said that all roads including GT Road and all main arteries of the country would remain open on April 20, the date on which the TLP had planned a protest over the alleged non-fulfilment of their demands.

To a question regarding the meeting of more than 30 lawmakers with Jahangir Tareen at his residence, the minister hoped that Mr Tareen would not part ways with the PTI. “The matter will be cooled down and harsh language should not be used. He is part of the party and will remain its part,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain in negotiations but there will be no blackmail. In a statement, the minister maintained the operation was carried out after the police and Rangers personnel were abducted in Lahore. “The state has not been blackmailed by the banned armed group.

Fawad pointed out that Imran Khan was devotee of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and had spoken on every forum. Meanwhile, Saad Hussain Rizvi, son of TLP founder Khadim Hussain Rizvi, asked his organisation’s workers to go back to their homes and end the sit-in in front of Rehmatullil Alameen mosque.

In a hand written statement and signed on Saturday as seen by ‘The News’, he asked the Shoora members to surrender before the law because due to their stubbornness the common people had been suffering for the last six days. He asked for dropping the protest call for April 20. He also asked one Zaheerul Hassan Shah to get his direction immediately implemented.

Also on Sunday, addressing a press conference along with JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim at Mansoora, Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq expressed grief over the violent situation emerged after “the government failure to honor the commitment it made with a political party about the expulsion of French envoy” and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.

The government should also revisit its decision to ban the TLP as under the law the ECP and the court had the authority to ban any political party, he said.

“I appeal the government to release all the detainees and try to resolve the issue with dialogue. The police could not be authorised to open direct fire on those, who, in love of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), are demanding the government fulfill its agreement and cut diplomatic relations with France.”

He told the journalists that he made a telephonic contact with Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid after the Yatim Khana Lahore tragedy and requested him to avoid using force against the demonstrators in the holy month. He said the situation in Yatim Khana was not different from that emerged during Lal Masjid incident and there were reports of several deaths in result of the police firing against the demonstrators.

He said the State should act like a mother and use of force against few emotional people was not a wise act. The JI, he said, was hosting an emergency meeting of the country’s leading scholars and Milli Yakjehti Council at Mansoora today (Monday) to discuss the situation and find a way for the peaceful solution of the issue.

He said some western countries and particularly France had been making attacks on the honor and respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), hurting the feelings of over two billion Muslim population. He said the demand of Pakistani Muslims to cut ties with France was natural and justified.

Reacting to law enforcers' action, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rahman called for a countrywide peaceful wheel-jam strike today, reported Geo News late Sunday night. JUIF chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman supported the call.