KARACHI: Police on Saturday informed the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts that they found no evidence against suspects nominated in a case pertaining to a clash between workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

The police had arrested 10 political workers — Mohammad Tariq, Altaf, Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Azhar, Abdal, Arif, Mohammad Rafiq, Anwar Hussain, Mohammad Hussain and Abdul Islam — on May 9 for their alleged involvement in clashes in the streets between workers of both political parties on the night of May 7 over holding public meetings at the same venue in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Later, they were released on bail.

PTI leaders Dr Arif Alvi, Syed Ali Zaidi and Firdaus Shamim Naqvi and PPP’s Waqar Mehdi and Najmi Alam along with two guards of Mr Zaidi and around a dozen workers from both sides were also named as absconders in the remand papers.

The investigating officer says police are clueless about real culprits

However, investigating officer Inspector Naseem Farooqui submitted an investigation report under A-class and said that during the course of investigation no evidence was found against the nominated suspects in order to charge sheet them.

The IO further said in the report that police were clueless about the real culprits and efforts were being made to trace them out.

The administrative judge sent the case to the ATC-III with a direction to dispose of the matter in accordance with law.

The IO in the remand papers had stated that the nominated leaders from both sides were present in their respective camps in the Hakim Said Ground, where both parties wanted to hold a political gathering on May 12.

It added that the workers from both sides attacked each other, fired shots into the air, torched vehicles, ransacked the camps and also caused injuries to policemen, including the SHO of the Aziz Bhatti police station. Around 600 other persons were also shown unknown in the FIR.

A case was registered under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage, etc), 337-A & H (shajjah) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of SHO Humayun Ahmed at the Aziz Bhatti police station.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2018