LAHORE: Police arrested Haqooq-i-Khalq Party (HKP) activists on Friday as they staged a peaceful demonstration outside the press club in solidarity with the Joint Awami Action Committee in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
A party spokesperson said all those detained were later released, but only after agreeing not to hold any protest on Saturday.
Among those picked up was HKP activist Farooq Tariq, who was reportedly manhandled and forced into a police vehicle. Punjab Police also detained dozens of other demonstrators, among them Muzammil Kakar and Hussain Jameel Faridi.
HKP voiced alarm over the arrests, noting that for a time there was no word on where Tariq and the others were being held. The party called for their immediate release and urged authorities to reveal their location without delay.
The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) also condemned what it called the arbitrary detention of Tariq, a member of its Federal Committee.
According to accounts of the incident, officers broke up the peaceful gathering by dragging and roughing up participants before loading them into vans. Those detained included members of HKP, the Khalq Youth Front, and the Progressive Students Collective — among them Haris Azad, Zahid Ali, Ali Raza, Ali Abdullah, Rai Ali Aftab, and Sher Ali.
PKRC described holding the activists incommunicado as unacceptable, arguing it infringed on constitutionally guaranteed rights to peaceful assembly, free expression, and political dissent.
Farooq Tariq later posted on social media that the day's protest was being postponed and would be rescheduled, asking supporters to stay away from Shimla Hill (the press club) for now, adding that organizers would seek permission before trying again.
The demonstration had been called to back AJK's Joint Awami Action Committee, which is pushing for democratic rights, economic justice, and accountable governance.
The Kashmir-based committee has kept up protests in Rawalakot and other AJK towns since early June, alleging that 30 demonstrators have died in a crackdown by security forces since polling took place on July 27. Its central demand is the abolition of the 12 assembly seats reserved for Kashmiris residing in various Pakistani cities.
PKRC further called for an end to treating peaceful political activity and solidarity protests as criminal acts, and for authorities to uphold constitutional guarantees around free expression, association, and assembly.