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| February 17, 2006 | Friday | Muharram 18, 1427 |
Heavy police, Rangers deployment in Lahore
LAHORE, Feb 16: Heavy contingents of the Pakistan Rangers and police guarded all important installations in the city on Thursday, as the situation remained largely peaceful.
Except for a minor incident in the Shalamar area, no major clash was reported from any part of the city, police said. They added that about a dozen people attempted to hold a rally, and in the commotion that ensued protesters damaged two cars. Soon thereafter, the police rushed to the spot and dispersed them.
The Rangers also patrolled various city roads, mainly troubled areas like the Punjab University New Campus, The Mall, Lower Mall and the JI headquarters in Mansoora. The Rangers and the police were also deployed around places of worship and foreign missions and business concerns.
“We have made a detailed security deployment to deter the occurrence of any further untoward incident,” Lahore police chief DIG Khwaja Khalid Farooq told Dawn. He said meetings with leaders of various religious groups and people from various walks of life helped the police maintain the peace.
On Friday (today), he said, no one would be allowed to violate the law, and strict action would be taken against those who chose to flout the ban on demonstrations. He revealed that over 10,000 police were on alert, who had been assigned duties in different parts of the city.
However, despite heavy deployment of the police and paramilitary troops in the city on Thursday, most areas remained tense, as news of arson and damage to public and private property kept pouring in from other parts of the province.
The violent protests that took place in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday left three men dead and scores injured, besides causing huge damage to public and private property.
Meanwhile, Rangers (Punjab) DG Maj-Gen Hussain Mehdi visited the city to monitor the overall law and order situation. Official sources told APP that Rangers would stay in thecity till normalcy returned. Rangers contingents were patrolling the Mall, FerozepureRoad, the Main Boulevard, Gulberg and other central areas. Contingents have also been deployed at all importantbusiness centres, commercial areas and markets. Home Secretary Khusro Pervaiz Khan told APP that overall lawand order situation across the province was under control. He said that contingents of police and other lawenforcing agencies had been deployed at all important focalpoints throughout the province to protect life andproperty. He said that nobody would be allowed to ransack property and asked people to protest in a peaceful manner.
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