GUJRAT: Scores of workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Thursday staged a protest demonstration on the main GT Road.

The protest call had been given by the PML-N against the registration of a case regarding a clash between workers of the PML-N and PML-Q at the Kotla Civil Hospital, alleged snatching of the land in the name of uplift schemes in various parts of Gujrat and victimisation of PML-N supporters by the police and administration at the behest of the outgoing rulers of Punjab during the last few months.

Representatives of civil society and affectees of the land grabbing had also joined the protest demonstration as a number of political workers from across the district gathered along the GT Road near the building of Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GtCCI).

PML-N MNA Abid Raza Kotla, former MNAs Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gull, Malik Jameel Awan, former MPAs Haji Imran Zafar, Nawabzada Haider Mehdi, former Gujrat district council chairman Tanveer Kotla, president Anjuman Tajaran Gujrat city Javed Butt and others led the protesters.

Protesters alleged land was snatched on pretext of uplift schemes

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands. They blocked the one track of the busy GT Road as the National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) ensured the smooth flow of traffic on the other track; however, a large number of vehicles were struck in the long queues due to the blockade of one side of the road.

The GT Road remained blocked for more than an hour during which the leaders of both the parties criticised the policies of former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in Gujrat as well as the role of the senior officials of police and district administration was also slammed for obeying, what they termed, the ‘illegal’ orders of the rulers instead of abiding by the law and the Constitution.

Gujranwala city police officer Umar Salamat had been assigned to look after the security arrangements during the protest demonstration in the absence of Gujrat District Police Officer Ghazanfar Shah as a number of police officials from Gujranwala and Wazirabad assisted the Gujrat police in this regard.

The PML-N had announced a sit-in in the wake of the clash at Kotla Civil Hospital between the Kotla group and the PML-Q men and initially it had to be staged on last Sunday but it was later put off for Thursday.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023