• Police baton-charge opposition party workers who gathered at Sohrab Goth to head out to Swabi
• Haleem Adil condemns action, says police being used as ‘PPP wing’

KARACHI: Police on Friday resorted to baton charge and arrested over a dozen workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), including the president and secretary of the party’s Karachi chapter, near Sohrab Goth where they gathered to depart for Swabi in the form of a rally.

The police booked the held workers of the opposition party in a rioting case.

Although the Karachi police did not explain the reasons behind its action, the PTI accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh of “using” the law-enforcement agency to harass its workers so that they could not attend the party’s rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, the rioting case registered by the Sohrab Goth police against the PTI workers, including Karachi president Raja Azhar and secretary Arsalan Khalid, says that the gathering was a “threat to law and order” and was creating “disturbance in public life”, forcing the police to take action against the opposition party workers.

It all started in the first half of the day when dozen of PTI workers led by its Karachi leadership started converging near Sohrab Goth in line with their announced plan to leave for Swabi rally, which is scheduled to be held on Saturday (today).

As the number of workers carrying party flags and chanting slogans started growing, the police took ‘action’ and started arresting the activists one by one amid baton charge and scuffle.

Besides Mr Azhar and Mr Khalid, those who were picked up by the police included PTI-Sindh general secretary Masroor Sial, PTI-Labour Wing President Rana Azam, Khurram Saeed, Farooq Ahmed, Sher Azam, Imran Mirza, Syed Ahmed Sohail and others.

All the arrested activists were taken to the Sohrab Goth police station, where they were booked in a case registered on behalf of the state.

The FIR was lodged under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting while being armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The PTI, however, tells a different story.

Its Sindh chapter president Haleem Adil Sheikh, who escaped the police action and managed to leave for KP with a caravan of vehicles, called the police action “a reflection of PPP’s dictatorship” in the province.

“No amount of oppression can halt the fight for people’s rights. The more brutality we face, the stronger we will respond with public power,” he said, adding: “The people are now well aware and want Imran Khan freed.”

He said after escaping police brutality in Karachi, the PTI caravan faced further resistance when it entered Hyderabad. “The police seized our vehicles. However, smaller groups of PTI supporters continued their journey to Swabi using alternative routes,” he added.

He said the PTI protest was peaceful and people gathering at Sohrab Goth to catch the bus for Swabi rally did not violate any rule of law but still the Karachi police chose to “operate as a PPP wing”, defying all democratic and legal norms.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024