With a charged crowd of his supporters protesting outside the Islamabad airport, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri’s plane was diverted to Lahore due to security reasons, said Pakistan’s Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid on Monday.
Widely followed in Pakistan, moderate religious cleric Tahirul Qadri’s flight was scheduled to land today at the an airport near the capital but now his plane has been re-routed to Lahore airport due to security reasons.
Over two thousand supporters of the cleric reportedly clashed with police outside an airport near Islamabad today morning before Qadri’s flight was to arrive.
In order to tackle the situation there, the police had sealed off all roads leading to the airport and blocked mobile phone services.
Local media reports said that Qadri was refusing to disembark at Lahore airport and insisting that he be landed at the previously planned airport in Islamabad.
Pakistan has been sensing the heat since last week, when eight people were killed last Tuesday when Qadris’ supporters clashed with Pakistani riot police in Lahore.
The government has stepped up its action imposing Section 144 in Rawalpindi prohibiting the gathering of more than four persons at a place and blocked all routes to and from Islamabad airport, even as PAT supporters hold protests in support of Dr Qadri in various cities.