The Karachi police on Friday detained about half a dozen people to prevent them from moving towards the venue of a scheduled protest by the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), held as part of countrywide demonstrations against the recently passed 27th Constitutional Amendment.

All roads leading to the Karachi Press Club (KPC) were closed by the police after buses and other heavy vehicles were parked to block access. Contingents of female police personnel were also deployed.

Some protesters were detained as they attempted to reach KPC. PTI Sindh spokesperson Mohammed Ali Bozdar told Dawn that “more than two dozen protesters” were detained near the KPC.

Also detained was civil society activist Alifya Sohail, not part of the TTAP protest, who was initially taken to the Artillery Maidan Police Station, where her phone was taken from her and she was not permitted to contact anyone.

She was subsequently moved to the Women Police Station situated on Sharae Faisal.

No case was registered against her, nor was there any written complaint against her.

Sohail has been consistently covering civil society protests, enforced disappearances and activities of rights group Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in Karachi for several years.

Journalists and human rights activists called her arrest a serious attack on press freedom and demanded her immediate release.

The police claimed later in the day that all detainees were released.

Tehrik-i-Numandagi Awam protest

The protest organised by the Tehrik-i-Numandagi Awam brought together civil society members, grassroots activists, and lawyers who collectively condemned and rejected the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

It marked the launch of the platform, which is “a national movement formed to restore the Constitution, defend fundamental rights and re-establish the people’s mandate,” as per a press release issued by the group.

It was held amid heavy police deployment outside the KPC, where contingents of police could be seen carrying batons.

Lahore-based academic Dr Ammar Ali Jan, speaking to Dawn, assailed the 27th Amendment, calling it an “affront” to democracy.

Jan stressed that the “Constitution is a contract between the people and the state,” noting that with the passing of the 27th Amendment, the state was blocking all avenues of “resistance to the system”.

“Where would a common person go to get justice when you block all legal paths?” he questioned.

Decrying the amendment, one of the participants, Samrina Hashmi, expressed her frustration over the current state of affairs while speaking to Dawn.

“I am 65 years old. I am so frustrated. When will I see my country flourish? We have been fighting all our lives against martial law, dictatorship. It seems we are going back to 1958,” she remarked, in an apparent reference to the military coup staged by General Ayub Khan in 1958.

Organiser Riaz Ahmed told Dawn that the amendment was a “question mark on the state of our judiciary”.

He called for the annulment of the 26th and the 27th amendments.

On the matter of resistance against the amendment, Ahmed told Dawn that “there was solid momentum” building against it.