KARACHI: Police on Sunday picked up Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Firdous Shamim Naqvi and over one dozen workers of the opposition party in different parts of the city.

They were held for holding rallies to express what they called solidarity with the judiciary on the call of PTI chairman Imran Khan.

South SSP Syed Asad Raza confirmed that 11 PTI workers had been arrested from two places in Clifton — Teen Talwar and Ziauddin Hospital Chowrangi — for staging rallies.

He added that cases were registered against the protesters for defying ban on staging rallies and protests under Section 144 of the criminal procedure code.

Meanwhile, PTI-Karachi spokesperson Falak Almas told Dawn that Mr Naqvi was taken into custody by the Gulshan police for holding a rally. She said he was kept at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station.

A video that went viral on social media showed that MPA Naqvi was being taken away by police in a mobile van. However, there was no confirmation from the police about his arrest.

The party spokesperson said that more than one dozen persons were also arrested from Teen Talwar in Clifton and the party’s office Insaf House on Sharea Faisal for the identical reason.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2023