LAHORE - Jail Road turned into a battlefield on Sunday when police foiled their attempt to leave hunger-strike camp for Metro Bus Service inauguration at Nishter Colony to present their demands to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Police baton charged the protesters and the people who joined in their demonstration. The protesting doctors also pelted stones on police.
Punjab Assembly Deputy Opposition Leader Shaukat Basra, who visited the doctors to show solidarity, also earned police attack over abusive language.
Forty doctors were taken into custody and later released when the MBS inauguration ended. After the police action, the colleagues of arrested doctors left the Punjab Institute of Cardiology Emergency, adding to the woes of suffering humanity.
Later, they joined the camp and staged a sit-in on Jail Road. A number of women wing leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also joined in the demonstration. PTI Central Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood, Aleem Khan, Lahore President Mian Muhamoodur Rashid, Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Uzma Kardar and Zainab Rizwan and PPP leader Muneer Ahmad Khan also visited the camp and condemned the Punjab government action.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan condemned the police crackdown on young doctors. He called for stringent action against the police officers responsible for the whole episode. He urged the government to adopt the path of dialogue with the protesting doctors and stop their victimisation.
Secretary General JI Liaqat Baloch deplored that the government was avoiding talks with the young doctors on hunger strike which was further complicating the situation. He said both the government and the ailing people were suffering because of the deadlock between the doctors and the government.
Addressing a press conference along with the health secretary and other officers, Special Assistant to CM on Health, Kh Salman Rafique said some political parties had used the YDA leadership for their vested interests.
He said the young doctors should not play in the hands of political parties under the garb of their demands. He said the government believed in solving the problems of doctors through dialogue. He said government team headed by him held dialogue with the young doctors the whole night.
Answering a question regarding violence against doctors, he said when the educated people fought with police on roads then the situation would worsen. He said the government stance was clear with regard to Gujranwala incident. He said that young doctors should expel those from their organisation who were involved in torture on senior doctors.
He said that those on hunger strike for protecting the rights of poor patients also announced closing emergency and indoor which had exposed their true face. He said the government had implemented 50 per cent of their demands.