Religious leaders announce nationwide shutter-down strike today

• Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman announces nationwide shutter-down strike.
• Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mufti Taqi Usmani condemn Lahore violence, with Fazl announcing support for Mufti Muneeb's strike call.
• Mufti Usmani says attacks on police by "certain" people were certainly wrong, but government should act wisely.

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KARACHI/ ISLAMABAD: A nationwide shutter-down strike has been called for today by the leaders of various religio-political outfits after violence and protests in Lahore led to clashes between police and supporters of a banned religiopolitical party.

The recently removed Ruet-e-Hilal Committee chairperson Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman had made the announcement for a strike in a press conference in Karachi along with other religious leaders late on Sunday. 

The Opposition stalwart, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, too, condemned the Lahore violence in a media talk in Islamabad and expressed support for Mufti Muneeb for his strike call. 

Read about the violence in Lahore after an attack on police station a day earlier

Cleric Mufti Taqi Usmani, meanwhile, condemned the way the government handled the protesters in Lahore, saying the attacks on the police by "certain" people were certainly wrong, but that the government should act wisely.

Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala traders support strike call

Traders associations in Karachi, Lahore and Gujranwala have announced their full support for the strike.

The All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajaran in Lahore, All Karachi Traders Union and Karachi Traders Association have announced that traders will keep shutters down.

Business and commercial centres in the cities will stay closed. Several petrol pumps and CNG stations in Karachi are also closed.

Sunday's attack on a Lahore police station

On Sunday, the police and Rangers conducted an operation to disperse the protesters of the banned religiopolitical party from Yateem Khana Chowk in Lahore.

During the operation, all roads leading to the roundabout were closed, while there were reports of protracted clashes between law enforcers and protesters.

There were also reports of multiple casualties during the clashes.

In an apparent reference to TLP protesters, Punjab CM's aide Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said that "miscreants" armed with petrol bombs attacked the Nawankot police station, taking 12 policemen hostage and leaving six injured.

Sharing a statement by the Lahore police, she had said that owing to the attack, in which the attackers used petrol bombs and bottles of acid, Rangers and police personnel were trapped inside the police station.

Read more: Saad Rizvi urges workers to disperse from mosque protest, shura members to turn themselves in

The miscreants held the deputy superintendent of police hostage, along with 11 other policemen, and drove them to their markaz (comprising a mosque and madrassah) nearby.

Aside from attacking the police station and kidnapping officials, the miscreants also stole an oil tanker carrying 50,000 litres of petrol, she had said.

According to the police statement, the police pushed back the miscreants and took back possession of the police station.

"Police did not plan or conduct any operation against the mosque or madrassah. The action, if any, was in self-defence and to protect public property," read the statement.

Awan, confirming the same, said that any action taken was in self-defence and to rescue the police officers taken hostage.

11 policemen held hostage by banned TLP in Lahore released: Sheikh Rasheed

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, in the early hours of Monday, announced that 11 policemen who had been taken hostage in Lahore by the proscribed TLP have been released after negotiations carried out by the Punjab government.

In a video statement, the interior minister said the “first round of talks” concluded in a "successful manner" after which the policemen were released and the protesters had dispersed and returned inside the Masjid Rehmatulil Alameen, the headquarters of the TLP. 

He added that the police had also been withdrawn from their positions to a more defensive posture.