Thousands of people were able to enter Minto Park for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rally unchecked on Saturday as the police abandoned the general gate by 5pm.
Though 2,000 policemen had been assigned security duties on Saturday, but they withdrew from sight as evening approached. Earlier, entrants had been made to go via walkthrough scanners and then frisked.
The checking stopped at 5 when the police disappeared. Only two SPs were visible at the scene, both from traffic police.
The SP VVIP Security, SP Mujahid and SP Model Town remained on patrolling duty till around 3pm.
Police sources said that the rally was attended by over a hundred thousand people. Most people arrived after 4pm.
The traffic plan for the rally also changed during the course of the day. Large shipping containers had been placed at Data Darbar Ravi Road, the Timber Market and Baba Haider Sain to divert traffic towards the venue at four parking areas.
The containers were removed by 2:30pm, after which vehicles were able to go all the way up to the main gate on Circular Road. Thousands of people thronged the road all day.
City Traffic SP Rana Shujat said that the decision to place the containers on the road was of the Lahore police, not the traffic police. “We were only managing traffic around the venue,” he said.
Security SP Abdul Ghaffar Qaisrani said that they containers had been removed as the PTI had been using them to “spread propaganda” about the Punjab Police.
He said that police officers had tried to explain the situation to PTI leaders, including Aleem Khan, but they had insisted that the police were merely trying to stop protesters from reaching the venue.
That was when the containers were removed.
The SP denied that policemen had disappeared from their posts at the main gate after 5pm.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2013.