Lahore/Islamabad, June 5
A day after the federal government imposed restrictions on private television
channels, police here launched an extensive crackdown on opposition leaders and workers, arresting hundreds of them without reason.
The Pakistan People’s Party claimed that over 50 of its workers had been arrested in Lahore. Police confirmed the arrest of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, District Lahore’s president Malik Bashir Ahmad Nizami, Labour Party leader, Faruque Tariq and Jamaat-e-Islami District Amir, Abdul Wahid Chaudhry from Kasur.
Political leaders said that the crackdown was launched to preempt likely protest demonstrations against the curbs clamped on media and the judicial crisis.
Observers termed the crackdown as a prelude to a major change. In Islamabad, police registered a case against 200 journalists for their participation in a procession for demanding freedom of press and for delivering anti-government speeches in front of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
— ANI
