ISLAMABAD, 1 December 2006 — Police in combat gear, equipped with tear gas rifles and other sophisticated weapons, blocked Islamists-led rallies in Lahore to protest against recent changes to the country’s rape laws, sources said yesterday. Authorities have banned rallies in eastern Pakistan. Police detained three hard-line lawmakers yesterday in an attempt to block the protest.
A six-party coalition of Islamic groups, the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), had been planning the rally yesterday to protest new legislation they say violates Islamic law. Activists and the government of President Pervez Musharraf support the bill as protecting rape victims. The protest, announced Wednesday by MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, called for a march from Lahore to the nearby town of Gujrat. But late Wednesday, the government issued a statement banning rallies.
Yesterday, police detained three lawmakers from the coalition — Liaquat Baluch, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Farid Piracha — along with several supporters as they gathered for the rally, witnesses said. Police also swung batons to disperse about 100 people who had also gathered at the rally point.
Although Qazi Hussain managed to leave Lahore, he was stopped by police in Gujranwala — miles away from Gujrat — and later sent to Islamabad. In Gujranwala, he told his supporters that he would continue opposing changes in the rape law, and urged them to hold rallies today outside mosques to condemn the government for banning demonstrations.
