Staff Reporter Lahore
Authorities have erected barricades on the bridge over Jhelum river and a ‘red line’ has been established by the Punjab Rangers in a bid to stop thousands of supporters of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan from reaching the federal capital.
The proscribed outfit plans to reach the federal capital and stage a sit-in for the expulsion of the French envoy.
Thousands of TLP workers and supporters resumed their march after Friday prayers from Gujranwala.
“Beyond this line, the responsibility for law and order lies with Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), who have been given the authority to open fire at the miscreants.
All the people are strictly warned to return to their homes,” read a banner put up by the paramilitary force on the Jhelum bridge.
The government also placed containers on the far end of the bridge to stop the protesters from crossing the river as it wanted to contain TLP supporters at Jhelum.
A contingent of Punjab Rangers has been deployed on the Chenab and Jhelum crossings and RPO Rawalpindi Imran Ahmar is monitoring the situation in Jhelum along with a heavy contingent of police.
Moreover, the National Highway, GT Road, Chenab Toll Plaza to Mor Bhai Khan, Sohawa are closed for traffic at multiple points.
Aujla Canal, Wazirabad, Chenab Toll Plaza, Gujrat, Canal Bridge and Jhelum Toll Plaza, Jhelum Cantt, Pakistan Tobacco Company, Chakwal Morr, Bhai Khan Bridge, Sohawa, are also closed for traffic.
The thousands-strong march of the banned TLP has shown no signs of relenting. The marchers also have heavy machinery, including three to four heavy cranes and excavators, to remove the obstructions on the road to Islamabad.
The authorities, in order to stop the rally, have blocked major thoroughfares such as the Murree Road and adjacent highways with containers and dug trenches across GT Road.
The proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan resumed its march from Gujranwala on Friday, with thousands of activists travelling in cars, buses and on foot continuing their journey towards Islamabad.
Participants of the protest march spent the night near the General Bus Stand on the Grand Trunk Road and resumed their rally in the morning, despite Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s Thursday night warning to the TLP to call off its march or face “consequences”.
The rally, which comprises around 5,000 participants, reached the Gujrat-Chenab toll plaza after stopping at Rahwali to offer Friday prayers.
A heavy police contingent was deployed at the toll plaza. A senior official earlier told media that the next TLP-police encounter was expected at two major security points that had been established at Chenab and Jhelum rivers, the only route for the march to reach Islamabad.
This time, he said, the Rangers would lead the command, while the Punjab Police would assist them as per the standard guidelines issued since the government deployed Rangers in the province under a notification issued on Wednesday.
On Friday, hundreds of Rangers and police personnel were deployed at the Chenab toll plaza to counter the marchers.
The security personnel also have armoured vehicles with them and are equipped with riot gear, according to police sources.
About 500 metres from the Chenab toll plaza, the Punjab Rangers marked a ‘red line’, and put up a notice nearby warning the protesters not to breach the line or face consequences.
Meanwhile, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif — alluding to the protest by the banned group — said: “When you undermine a legitimately and genuinely elected prime minister representing the will of the nation and attack parliament for petty political gains, you open the floodgates for chaos and anarchy.”
“The country is the ultimate sufferer. Time for a collective rethink is now!” he urged.
Some TLP workers also gathered out the Karachi Press Club after Friday prayers, witnesses said. They said that around 200-300 protesters had gathered outside the KPC and the entrance had been closed.
In Rawalpindi, the authorities have blocked the entry and exit points to the city due to a feared disturbance in the law and order situation in the wake of the TLP march.
A heavy contingent of Frontier Constabulary, Elite Force and Rangers have been deployed at Faizabad Interchange to deal with any untoward situation.
Similarly, Rangers have also been stationed along the Metro Bus track and Murree Road. A number of areas have been sealed with containers to stop the marchers from creating a law and order situation.
All three bridges over Chenab between Gujrat and Wazirabad towns have been filled with containers and at least 100 containers have been placed throughout the pathway of the bridges.
These fresh arrangements to prevent the TLP march were made on Thursday in addition to the already dug up trenches near the toll plazas on Wazirabad and Gujrat sides as the area was already blocked for the last one week.
Rangers troops have taken over the command of all security arrangements at the said point where a heavy contingent of police belonging to the entire Gujranwala region has already been deployed for the last many days.
