Police on Wednesday arrested 226 individuals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi for allegedly resisting a raid and participating in a ‘musical show’.
Swabi Deputy Superintendent of Police Ijaz Khan Abazai told Dawn.com: “The number of arrested individuals was 226, and a number of them belonged to various areas outside the district, and the larger issue was that they tore the uniforms of three police personnel when they were resisting the police order to close the show.”
He added that the arrested included two members of the transgender community as well.
The first information report (FIR) of the incident was registered at the Swabi City Police Station on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Saidul Amin under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions), 294 (obscene acts in public) and 506 (criminal intimidation of the Pakistan Penal Code and other legal sections.
It read that a musical show was underway in Raz Muhammad market in the district headquarters, and the police sought to find out what was happening when they were alerted about the matter.
“The music event was playing ‘immoral’ songs at high volume through loudspeakers, and obscene and ‘immoral’ dancing in ‘half-naked’ clothes continued, and when they were told to stop the show, they resisted the order with full vigour,” the FIR added.
It added that some of the audience members were carrying pistols and they resorted to aerial firing during the event. The FIR also stated that some audience members were also making videos and sharing them on social media.
SHO Amin said that personnel from the Zaida and Tehsil Topi police stations, along with other police posts, were called and a raid was conducted.
Senior police officials had said on Sunday that Swabi police arrested a TikToker who was allegedly making videos while dressing as a girl and uploading them to his account to “mislead people, especially the youth“.
Last month, a Lahore magistrate dismissed a case against transgender persons for allegedly organising an “objectionable” private party after police had arrested them earlier.
