Participants of PTI’s Clifton rally booked for vandalising public property, assaulting police

Police on Monday registered a case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and workers for challenging the writ of the state, accusing them of vandalizing public property, injuring and assaulting uniformed police personnel and resorting to aerial firing to spread terror in Karachi's Teen Talwar area.

The FIR (No. 31/24) was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 342, 353, 337A(i), 324, 395, 427, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, on the complaint of Additional SHO Sub-Inspector Rasheed Ahmed at the Frere police station.

It named around 5,000 PTI workers and identified 15 of them, including Gulzar Qazi, Ayaz Rahim, Sultan Rahim, Abdul Sattar, and Muhammad Faheem, as having been arrested.

It stated that PTI activists, led by the party's provincial leaders Barrister Fayyaz, Uzair Ghauri, Arsalan Khalid, Riaz Haider, Farhan Saleem Ghauri, Imran Rana, Wajahat Siddiqui, Fauzia Siddiqui and Sheraz Ahmed, had been planning a violent protest via social media for the past couple of days.

The FIR read that at 4 pm on Sunday, they convened at the Teen Talwar roundabout in rallies coming from different areas of Karachi. It mentioned that they did not have any legal permit for the rally or gathering.

"Upon gathering at Teen Talwar, they began blocking traffic in all directions, despite police urging them not to disrupt commuters as it was causing inconvenience to the public. The police suggested they either hold their rally on the footpath or move forward, but they continued to obstruct traffic," the FIR added.

It stated that despite police warnings, PTI leaders Khurram Sher Zaman, Fahim Khan, Saeed Afridi, Adeel Ahmed, Rohan, Usman Butt, Dr Paracha and Shamim Thanvi instigated the party workers to resort to violence.

It alleged that the PTI leaders and workers attacked the police with batons, snatched their anti-riot equipment, including 60 gas shells and three complete anti-riot kits, and initiated aerial firing.

The FIR added that in response to this, the police refrained from retaliatory fire and strategically handled the situation to protect government and private property. The firing and aggression from the PTI workers spread fear and terror among the public and forced shops in the area to close, it maintained.

It said that due to the violence inflicted by the PTI leadership and workers, seven police officers, including lady police constable Syeda Ariqa and SHO Muhammad Riaz, sustained injuries. It added that PTI workers also caused damage to public property and police vehicles.

District South SSP Sajid Amir Suddozai also shared an internal report with the IGP Sindh. In the report, SSP South wrote that an illegal PTI rally of approximately five thousand people challenged the authority of the state by vandalizing public property, injuring and assaulting uniformed police personnel, resorting to aerial firing to spread terror in the area and raising slogans against the police.

The report read: "They did not have any prior approval for carrying out the rally for their election campaigning at the aforementioned venue. When police asked them to clear roads, they resorted to violence and vandalism. During this, seven police officials sustained injuries, and three official vehicles were also damaged by the violent mob."

It added that PTI's violent workers were threatening police officers openly with severe consequences. It mentioned that the PTI leadership was engaged in hate speech since January 27 on social media, and they continued the same against the police on the ground at the venue on January 28, which enraged and encouraged the mob for vandalism and violence.

Remands

An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted two-day police remand of more than a dozen supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf detained following a clash with police at Teen Talwar during an election rally on Sunday, adds our correspondent.

The investigating officer produced 15 detained suspects before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts and requested grant of their 14-day physical remand for interrogation.

The administrative judge, however, handed over their custody to the police for two days and directed the IO to produce them on the completion of their remand.