By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Police used tear gas and batons to disperse supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who tried to hold an election rally in a restricted area of Karachi on Sunday, injuring several people and arresting 25, officials and witnesses said.
The PTI, led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, accused the police and the caretaker government of violating its constitutional right to campaign and demanded the release of its detained workers.
The police said the party had not obtained the required permission to hold a rally in the Red Zone, a high-security area that houses government offices.
Witnesses said several hundred PTI workers arrived at the Teen Talwar roundabout in the upscale Clifton neighborhood on Sunday afternoon to hold the election rally on the call of Khan, who is facing corruption charges and is currently in prison.
Asad Raza, a deputy inspector general of police, said the PTI workers blocked the main road and threw stones at the police, injuring Boat Basin Station House Officer Riaz Niazi and others.
Raza said the police had to use force to clear the area and restore traffic. “Police have arrested 25 persons and a first information report is being registered against them.”
PTI Karachi spokesperson Falak Almas said the party had informed the district administration that it would take out a rally from Seaview to Teen Talwar, after changing its original route from Sharea Quaideen to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, due to a rally by Jamaat-i-Islami, another political party, at Bagh-i-Jinnah.
“The police were already deployed at the venue when the PTI workers arrived and started tear gas shelling and baton charge without any provocation,” Almas said.
She also alleged that the police beat up female activists and arrested at least 30 workers.
In a post on X, a social media platform, the PTI shared videos showing police personnel leading a man through a crowd of people, many of whom were carrying the party flag, and a large number of police personnel carrying sticks as a party banner and several flags lay on the floor.
“Police are arresting peaceful people at Karachi during PTI’s rally. These are visuals of free and fair elections,” the party said.
“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?”
Earlier this week, Khan, who is facing corruption charges, had directed all the ticket holders of his party to hold rallies in their constituencies to mobilise the public for the February 8 general elections.
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