ISLAMABAD: As the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers and the police headed towards a showdown, the latter reacted recklessly while the Punjab government watched the development with criminal silence.

Background discussions with officials privy to details indicate that the police acted with caution in the beginning and even fled from the scene when stones were pelted on them that left scores of cops injured.

However, once they decided to retaliate, they left behind eight persons dead, providing fodder to a news hungry media. The tension in Lahore that spanned around 14 hours continued without any intervention from the government while the residence of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was not far away from the Minhajul Quran (MuQ) Markaz.

Apparently, an anti-encroachment operation turned into a political battlefield stained with the blood of workers. As the district administration decided to remove the barricades around the MuQ Markaz that were erected four years ago, around 10 policemen accompanied them in the first raid. The operation was to be launched at 1am Tuesday. The PAT workers started pelting stones on the policemen forcing them to flee, according to an eyewitness. Other than the MuQ Markaz and four houses in the surroundings hired by them, those employed at the Markaz also live in flats in a nearby market. They were found aiming at the police from there mostly with stones.

The police staged a comeback at around 5:30am only to notice the swelling ranks of the PAT workers who woke up to offer the Fajr prayer.This attempt also backfired as stones were pelted again.In the meanwhile, Allama Tahirul Qadri tweeted at 5am: “This is the first test for my workers. They will sacrifice their lives but they will never bow their heads.”

This coincides with a speech at the MuQ mosque where a fiery speaker was saying. ‘Mujahido, Shahadat ka waqt hay (holy warriors, it is time for martyrdom),’ is what he was heard repeating through a

loudspeaker.

The security in-charge of the MuQ Markaz, Altaf Shah, a retired SP, was approached by the police for negotiations about the encroachment.Contrary to his past friendly behavior with the police, he dismissed the police demand and said they would either kill or be killed, an official of the district administration who approached him in the company of policemen told The News later.

The police went to the spot again for the third time at around 9:30am. This time, they were big in number comprising almost 100 cops. Again, stones were pelted that left over 20 policemen injured. All of them fled from the scene only to return for the fateful encounter after 12pm that ended with the killing of eight persons, (six workers and two passers-by).

Although, the PAT claims they didn’t have weapons, eyewitnesses claimed two Kalashnikovs and three pistols were recovered from the workers apprehended by the police.At no point in the 14-hour tension, there was any directive from the political government to abandon the anti-encroachment drive, knowing well its political implications.

