LAHORE: The government sta­rted arresting key leaders of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek across Punjab, while arrangeme­nts were made to prevent the party’s workers from reaching Islam­abad to receive their leader Dr Tahirul Qadri who travelled from London to Dubai airport on Sun­day and is scheduled to land in the federal capital on Monday morning.

Dozens of arrests were also reported from various other districts, particularly those close to the Motorway and Grand Trunk Road.

The routes leading to Islamabad were being blocked at points away from public and media eyes.

Officials approached by Dawn in various areas of the province confirmed that they had been asked to adopt “all possible peaceful means” for preventing the PAT activists from moving towards Islamabad.

After consultations with elder brother, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, earlier in the day, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif went to Islamabad in the evening to monitor the arrangements made there, apparently to avert a recurrence of the Lahore Model Town-like situation in which nine people were shot dead and over 100 injured in clashes on Tuesday between police and PAT activists during removal of barriers around the Minhajul Quran headquarters.

The chief minister was also scheduled to meet the top brass of the establishment for “taking them into loop” on the political situation and its likely impact on the army operation in North Waziristan, a PML-N leader said.

Shahbaz Sharif was quoted in a statement as telling a group of PML-N legislators that “the country is passing through a critical phase … Therefore, it can neither afford politics of agitation nor it is justified at this stage.” He said the people would reject the “politics of sabotage and chaos”.

To counter any likely intervention by the judiciary, the PML-N leaders also consulted their official and unofficial legal advisors. Federal Law Secretary Zafarullah Khan dashed to Lahore reportedly to brief the leadership on legal and constitutional aspects of the government’s efforts to foil Dr Qadri’s show in Islamabad and airlifting him to Lahore or any other Punjab town. Mr Khan was assisted by Punjab Prosecutor General and former IGP Rana Maqbool, besides a team of political leaders and bureaucrats, an official said.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar hinted at the airlifting option, saying that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that Dr Qadri reached Lahore safely.

In a late-night development, security agencies erected barricades around the Lahore airport in a bid to stop the entry of unwanted people, giving credence to reports about Dr Qadri’s airlifting to Lahore.

Before his departure for Dubai en route to Islamabad, Dr Qadri alleged in London that he had reports from inside the government that the prime minister was planning to divert his flight to Lahore or Sialkot.

He said that unlike last year he had no plan to hold a sit-in in Islamabad and he desired to travel to Lahore peacefully.

However, his spokesman Shahid Mursaleen, who is accompanying him, warned the government: “If Dr Qadri is arrested at the airport or his flight is diverted, we will stage sit-ins across the country and it will mean an immediate end of the PML-N regime.”

PAT general secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandapur told reporters here that at least 150 leaders and activists had been taken into custody in the twin cities and eight in Lahore.

In Islamabad, he alleged, PAT leaders had been invited by the administration for talks on Dr Qadri’s reception but they had been taken into custody.

Punjab police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar said “only a few people have been taken into custody on reports that they may create a law and order situation”.

Interestingly, a handout issued on behalf of newly-appointed provincial Law Minister Rana Mashhood said no PAT worker had been arrested.

The home department issued a security warning to Dr Qadri. “After military operation in North Waziristan, terrorists have announced attacks on important political and religious leaders and there is also threat of terrorism at Benazir Bhutto Airport, Islamabad, and other airports… The terrorists can also target the slow-moving convoy of Pakistan Awami Tehreek on GT Road,” it said.

Political support

Although almost all parties had sympathised with the PAT after the Lahore incident, it was failing to get support for reception of Dr Qadri and its cause of bringing about a ‘peaceful revolution’.

Except the PML-Q and political non-entity Awami Muslim League of Sheikh Rashid, no political force was coming forward in this regard.

PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi called on Dr Qadri’s son Hasan Mohyyuddin and said his party would provide 60,000 activists for the reception and the anti-government campaign.

A leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said his party could not afford the baggage Dr Qadri was carrying, a reference to the impression of the PAT leader being a pawn of the establishment.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2014