On 29 Saturday, the police in Pakistan apprehended more than 40 workers and three leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) following two separate incidents on the Srinagar Highway (formerly Kashmir Highway) in Islamabad with the intention to prevent the radical outfit turned political party from arranging an anti-Israel rally. The rally from Faizabad to the United States embassy was reportedly planned without obtaining prior authorisation from the district administration.
اسلام آباد میں پولیس جماعت اسلامی والوں پر ٹوٹ پڑی ہے
— Bushra Mughal ik (@bushra_ik) October 28, 2023
مارچ سے روکنے کےلئے گرفتاریاں شروع۔۔۔ !!! pic.twitter.com/iIw2wa24Rv
The district administration refused to allow JI to organise the rally and a large number of police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel cleared out the JI camp that had been established along the Highway and arrested the workers and local leaders. The Srinagar Highway was stopped by party members who were enraged over the police intervention. Furthermore, police dispersed them with tear gas shells and baton charges.
Police detained party leader Kashif Chaudhry, spokesman Aamir Baloch, chief of JI Islamabad Nasrullah Randhawa and other members. Their stage, sound equipment and lights were also seized by the cops. A police official stated that no political organisation is permitted to block city highways.
اسلام آباد میں ڈپلومیٹک انکلیو کے قریب مارچ کی اجازت دینے سے انتظامیہ کا انکار،اسلام آباد پولیس نے جماعت اسلامی کے کارکنوں کو گرفتار کرلیا،تشدد بھی کیا،امیرجماعت اسلامی اسلام آباد نصراللہ رندھاوا گرفتار۔ pic.twitter.com/Oui2mx3pOo
— آنسہ بٹ (@iamansaarmy) October 28, 2023
He stated that rallies and processions are prohibited in the city due to the implementation of Section 144, but that peaceful protests could be held with official approval. He mentioned that a few persons were rounded up for obstructing the Highway. The demonstrators retaliated to the action by throwing stones at the police.
JI Information Secretary Sajjad Ahmad Abbasi informed that the head of their Islamabad unit as well as his deputies Dr Farooq and Kashif Chaudhry had been taken into custody. According to him, the group was preparing for the ‘Gaza March’ which was scheduled for 29 October, when authorities showed up and cleared out their camps.
The spokesperson provided details regarding the demonstration and alleged that about two weeks ago the outfit approached the capital administration and requested a permission letter to plan the march from Faizabad to the United States embassy in the Diplomatic Enclave. He argued that the party had twice changed the march’s itinerary at the behest of the administration, first from Sports Complex to Dhokri Chowk and then from Zero Point to Dhokri Chowk.
As Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon did not reply to their request for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to set up the protest march, he added that JI leader Kashif Chaudhry went to the official who gave them consent to stage the march “on WhatsApp.” The party established up camp and installed a sound system near Srinagar Highway in anticipation of the march which had the deputy commissioner’s clearance.
He conveyed, “In the afternoon, a heavy contingent of police reached the site and started uprooting their camps and confiscated their equipment on the pretext of Section 144 and lack of permission from the administration for the protest rally.”
He proclaimed that the JI workers and the police got into a verbal dispute over the action which escalated into a physical brawl in which the former hurled stones at the officers while tear gas shelling and baton charges were used by the latter. He noted that the police detained around twenty party workers and at least three leaders and brought them to the Secretariat police station.
The leaders of JI assembled on the Srinagar Highway to have a press conference in reaction to the police crackdown. He added that this led to yet another round of altercations between the organisation and law enforcement and that the police nabbed more than twenty members and placed them in the lock-up.
A police spokesman commented on the state of law and order and stated that “some people were attempting to block the Srinagar Highway” as the reason for the arrests. He highlighted, “The highway is an inter-provincial connectivity road and blocking the road creates problems for the public.” They were advised by the police to adhere to standard protocols for peaceful protests.
