Four students detained for chanting 'Go Nawaz Go'

Lahore: Four students, who were participating in a sport competition, were taken into custody on Saturday for allegedly chanting slogans against the Prime Minister during a sporting event’s awards ceremony at the Railway Stadium in Lahore.

The incident occurred when Railways Minister Saad Rafique was making a speech at the railways athletics championship's awards ceremony when the students in the crowd started chanting ‘Go Nawaz Go’.

This allegedly angered the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders and the students were arrested.

According to another student, a fellow participant of the detained players, said that the students were innocent. He explained that when Saad Rafique was making his speech some students started chanting slogans. However, when their team's older players came down after the ceremony, they were beaten up by the police and then taken into custody. “We are completely innocent”, he remarked.

This was reiterated by another female player, who said the slogans were being chanted by school children. "We did no wrong. We came here as athletes," she remarked. 

He also said that police then started beating up the players and took them into custody, even though they did not chant any slogans.

Detained students, including Abrar, Fatehullah, Waheed, have been taken to Garhi Shahu police station, according to sources.

All three students belong to Karachi Railways, said the police.

Speaking on the matter, Railways DG Najam Wali said that the students were detained because they politicised an apolitical event. Saad Rafique did not make a political speech yet the students tried to politicise the matter, he said.

“We didn’t like that the slogans were being chanted,” he accepted while speaking to Geo News.

“People came to the event to promote sports not politics,” he added.

Soon after the news was aired on Geo News, PM ordered that the students should be released immediately.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s leader Aleem Khan, speaking about the situation, said that the sports ground was booming with the ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans, adding that Saad Rafique and other PML-N leaders will have to encounter such situations time and again.

“It is quite sad that the players were beaten by the police and then taken into custody,” he added.