The workers of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Saturday clashed with the Islamabad police which used tear gas to disperse the protesters who blocked the Kashmir Highway.
Clashes broke out at Kashmir Highway after police arrested several leaders and workers of JI as they were preparing for the ‘Gaza March’, which is scheduled for Sunday (tomorrow) in front of the US embassy.
Police said that it halted the preparations for the protest after the capital administration refused to allow the JI to organise the rally.
The operation was initiated after the workers began protesting while they were preparing for the protest at the Srinagar Highway, they added.
JI Islamabad Chief Nasrullah Randhawa and party leader Kashif Chaudhry were among those arrested as the police confiscated the stage, sound system and lighting brought by the JI workers.
After the arrests, JI workers blocked the Kashmir Highway in Islamabad after police arrested several workers of the party who were preparing for Sunday’s Gaza March at the American embassy in Islamabad.
Central Naib Ameer Mian Muhammad Aslam led the protest, where workers burned tires on the Kashmir Highway and demanded the release of the arrested workers.
JI Chief Sirajul Haq has alleged that action was taken against party workers after the government received a call from Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
“JI had announced the Gaza March at the American embassy and preparations were underway when suddenly the government arrested JI Islamabad leadership, tortured workers and refused to allow the March,” he said in a video posted on X.
A day earlier, Haq announced a protest at the American embassy on Sunday against the Israeli atrocities in Palestine.
Talking to the media in Lahore, Sirajul Haque said that Israel’s worst bombing of Gaza is continuing, and the world’s silence on Israeli atrocities in Palestine is sad.
He said that blatant violation of human rights continues in Gaza, human rights organizations should raise their voices in favor of Palestinians, and there is a shortage of food, water, medicine, and essential goods in Gaza.
Siraj said that the bombing by the Israeli forces has been going on for 21 days in Gaza, calling the UN meeting after three weeks is a sign that these international organizations are also silent on the massacre of Muslims.
The Cheif of Jamaat-e-Islami said that the United States has deployed weapons including a naval fleet in support of Israel, while the United States has vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council and announced that it stands with Israel.
He further said that the leading human rights organizations are also silent on the persecution in Palestine, while the Muslim rulers should put pressure on Israel and America and fully support Palestine, but there is silence like a graveyard.
