Dissident cleric says 7 supporters killed in clashes
LAHORE, Pakistan — Fighting between Pakistani security forces and supporters of a fiery antigovernment cleric killed seven people as they were heading toward a planned demonstration in the city of Lahore, the cleric said Saturday. Authorities have contested the cleric’s claim and put the death toll from the clashes at two, including one police officer.
Cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, who led anticorruption protests in January 2013 that paralyzed Pakistan’s capital, has a network of mosques and religious centers across the country. His supporters briefly abducted six police officers in the fighting, which began Friday in Punjab province and continued into the next morning.
Supporters of the cleric planned to hold a demonstration in Lahore on Sunday to protest the killing of 14 people in June during similar clashes, and they were streaming toward the city from different directions when they encountered police roadblocks.
Qadri told reporters Saturday in Lahore that the clashes began when police opened fire on those coming for the protests and that seven of his supporters were killed and over 1,000 wounded.
The government has disputed his claim, saying that only one of Qadri’s supporters and a police officer were killed in the clashes.
Rana Mashood, the provincial minister of Punjab, said the fighting began when Qadri’s people tried to remove shipping containers being used as roadblocks, prompting police to fire tear gas.
Some 55 officers were wounded in the fighting, with one killed in clashes in Gujranwala district and one of Qadri’s supporters killed in Multan district, Mashood said, adding that 500 people were arrested.
Some eight police and private vehicles were set on fire in Sargodha when police tried to stop the crowds from crossing the barricades, he said.
Qadri asked his supporters to give up their efforts to reach Lahore and instead directed them to hold protest rallies in their own areas.