A deputy superintendent of police was apparently taken hostage and tortured by workers of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)Three protestors killed and many injured in Lahore on Sunday.
According to the Punjab Police, the incident happened after workers belonging to the TLP attacked the Nawankot police station early in the morning.
In a short video doing the rounds, the Nawankot police station DSP, who identified himself as Mohammad Umer Farooq, can be seen appealing to the government to resolve the matter through dialogue.
The DSP narrated the events that led up to him being taken hostage, telling the government that it should ‘honour’ the agreement if one was reached between the two parties.“Three people to my right have so far been martyred whereas scores are injured,” he said before he requested the government to try and resolve the situation amicably. “We are all Muslims, and our common enemy is France who committed blasphemy,” the DSP says in the video.
The Punjab Police confirmed the DSP’s kidnapping in a statement put out on its official Twitter account.“Today in the early morning, miscreants attacked Nawankot Police Station where Rangers and Police officers were trapped inside the police station and DSP Nawankot kidnapped and taken in the markaz," the Punjab Police’s statement read.
It claimed that the TLP workers also made away with an oil tanker containing 50,000 litres of petrol.
“The miscreants were armed and attacked Rangers/Police with petrol bombs. Police and Rangers pushed them back and took back the possession of the Police Station. Police did not plan or conducted any operation against the mosque or the madrassa. The action, if any, was in self defence and to protect public property,” the statement further read.
TLP ban
The government on Thursday, April 15, decided to approach the apex court seeking the dissolution of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after the federal cabinet outlawed the group under the country’s anti-terrorism law.
The cabinet’s approval of a summary to ban the TLP came in the wake of thousands of its activists and supporters staging violent protests for three straight days across the country over the arrest of their leader.
Armed with sticks, canes and in some instances guns, they went on a rampage, causing loss of life and damaging properties worth millions of rupees.
After imposing the ban, the government also decided to circulate another summary among members of the federal cabinet for the dissolution of TLP on April 16, saying the matter would then be taken to the Supreme Court.
“We tried our best to solve the issues [with TLP] through negotiations but they had extremely dangerous intentions and weren’t agreeing to go back on their agenda for April 20 [march],” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, accompanied by Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Minister Noorul Haq Qadri, explained at a news conference in the federal capital.
“Accepting demands like expelling ambassadors could lead to an extremely difficult situation for the country,” he added, referring to the TLP seeking the expulsion of the French envoy over blasphemous caricatures.
Rashid said all ministers had signed the summary seeking their approval for declaring the TLP a proscribed organisation.Meanwhile, at least three protesters were killed and several others injured during the clash, according to the party's workers.
A TLP spokesperson said the clash started when police launched an operation to clear the area around Lahore's Yateem Khana Chowk, where workers of the banned party have been staging a protest since earlier this week.
In a video message, TLP spokesperson Shafiq Ameeni said that "[We] will bury [those killed] when the French ambassador exits the country and our agreement (with the government) is implemented."
Videos on social media showed people carrying away the injured and tending to them. However, some users pointed out that the videos were old and were shared without context.
TLP workers wielding sticks and stones also climbed atop the Orange Line Metro Train, while speeches were being made through the area mosque to call people for support, according to the city police spokesperson. He said the protesters were pelting stones at police and Rangers personnel.
The TLP also shared a video of a senior official of Punjab police, who was allegedly abducted by its workers on Sunday. The injured police official, assumedly under duress, said that an operation was being carried out to clear the area outside a police station when he was "captured" by the "enraged" crowd.
He said that three people were killed and several others sustained bullet wounds, appealing for a way forward through dialogue.
The TLP was formally banned by the federal government earlier this week after its supporters staged three days of violent protests across the country, resulting in deaths and injuries to several policemen.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad later in the day, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said the situation in the area around Yateem Khana Chowk was "tense", adding that the government would take a decision on disbanding the TLP and the matter would be taken to the cabinet by April 20.
"If [TLP] has to be disbanded, the law ministry and Attorney General [of Pakistan] will be working on this and a reference will be filed."
When asked whether any negotiations were taking place between the TLP and the government, Rashid replied in the negative.
He said blasphemy was not acceptable to the government in any condition "but for the peace of this country and to remain alive in the world, [we] had to take some inevitable steps for which we were mentally not prepared", referring to the ban imposed on the TLP.
Answering a question, Rashid said the government will make full efforts to ensure that all roads and highways remain open on April 20.
During the three days of countrywide protests, hundreds of protesters and police personnel were injured and thousands of TLP activists and supporters were arrested and booked for attacking law enforcement personnel and blocking main roads and highways in protest against the arrest of their leader Allama Saad Hussain Rizvi.
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan also lauded the services of police for dealing with the "organised violence" perpetrated by the protesters.
In a tweet, the premier also announced that the government would look after the families of the four police personnel martyred during the violence.
"I want to pay special tribute to our police force for their heroic stand against organised violence intended to create chaos to blackmail [the] government," he wrote, noting that four policemen were martyred and more than 600 injured during the unrest.