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Karachi police on Sunday arrested at least 20 PTI workers as the party attempted to carry out an election rally in the metropolis ahead of the February 8 polls.
The development came as the leaders of all major political parties — including the PPP, the PML-N and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — continued their election trail.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the PTI shared footage showing police personnel leading a man through a crowd of people, many of whom were carrying the party flag.
“Police are arresting peaceful people at Karachi during PTI’s rally. These are visuals of free and fair elections,” the party said.
It shared another video, in which a large number of police personnel carrying sticks could be seen as a party banner and several flags lay on the floor.
“The police stormed the PTI rally with shamelessness and vandalised trucks and loudspeakers. On whose orders the people are being tortured for taking out a peaceful rally?” the party asked.
PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan said that police had arrested PTI Sindh General Secretary Ali Pal.
“We strongly condemn this action by Karachi Police. It is the constitutional right of every citizen to hold a peaceful rally during the election campaign,” he said.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) South Asad Raza told Dawn.com that action was taken against the PTI rally because it did not have a NOC (no-objection certificate) to stage a protest or rally in Karachi’s Clifton area.
“The police did not receive any request for a NOC,” he said. “Seven to eight policemen were injured while 20-25 people affiliated with the PTI have been arrested,” he said.
DIG Raza said the police would also lodge an FIR (first information report) against the arrested persons.
Hammad Azhar’ says his father arrested by police
PTI leader and former federal minister Hammad Azhar said that his octogenarian father, who is also the former Punjab governor, was arrested by the Punjab police ahead of an election rally in Lahore.
In a post on X, Hammad said his 82-year-old father Mian Azhar, a PTI-backed independent candidate contesting for the February 8 elections from the NA-129 constituency, wanted to “lead a rally as per his democratic and constitutional right”.
“Pakistan has today been reduced to a total fascist state with zero human rights or rule of law. One Nawaz Sharif and his daughter calling the shots and ruining the country,” the PTI leader said.
In another post later, Hammad shared a video of his father. “We are in the office and attempts have been made to sabotage our rally, but our spirits are elevated. God willing, we will take out the rally,” Mian Azhar could be heard saying in the clip.
Dawn.com has reached out to Lahore police for a comment.
Meanwhile, the PTI termed the arrest as “highly condemnable”.
“PTI’s candidates are right now being stopped from conducting peaceful election rallies, while on the other side PML-N/PPP and other parties are free to conduct every political event,” it stated.
The party added that the “continuous policy of raiding homes, businesses of our leadership and workers is only producing damage to Pakistanis and Pakistan alone”.
Power show
Earlier this week, Imran had directed all the ticket holders to come out in the streets and roads across the country today, warning that the tickets of those who fail to hold rallies would be cancelled.
“We have given clear direction to ticket holders to come out at 2pm and hold rallies and public meetings in their constituencies. They will address the voters and will give a message that PTI will not allow anyone to take its space,” PTI’s Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan told Dawn earlier.
He said that a message had been conveyed to all the leadership to hold rallies across the country without fear of arrest.
“They might be arrested but we believe that it will not affect their election campaign. In fact, they may get more votes [of sympathy] as voters will be observing all what is happening with the PTI. We have also released a video message in that regard,” Hasan added.
On the other hand, PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi told a virtual convention of candidates yesterday that the party would also launch its 158-page manifesto today.
On May 9, 2023, after Imran’s arrest from the Islamabad High Court, PTI workers held protests across the country. The protest, however, turned into riots with some mobs found attacking military installations.
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