ISLAMABAD: The capital police on Saturday made an unsuccessful attempt to arrest six staff members of a news channel in Karachi, sources told Dawn.

The police conducted raids in different localities of Karachi, including South Zone, but proved unsuccessful, the sources said.

Majority of the houses raided by the police were found abandoned since long, while few of them were in a deserted place, they said, adding that later they left Karachi for Islamabad.

The raids were conducted in response to directives from the authorities concerned, the sources said, adding that the authorities believed that Shahbaz Gill was not alone in the ‘conspiracy’.

Different PTI leaders and some staff members of the news channel have been identified as being involved in hatching the ‘conspiracy’, they added.

Meanwhile, a decision has also been taken to club the case registered against staff members of the news channel at Karachi’s Memon Goth police station with the one registered at Kohsar police station in Islamabad.

According to the officers, a request is being made to the Sindh government to refer the case registered at Memon Goth police station to Kohsar police station in Islamabad.

In another move, the capital police approached the FIA Cyber Crime wing to register a case against Shahbaz Gill over his appearance in the controversial news bulletin of the news channel, the officers said.

Besides, the police also requested the FIA to register cases against the social media handler who shared the news bulletin from their accounts as well as those who were sharing their view in favour of Gill as all were creating a bad image of the police.

However, the FIA Cyber Crime refused to register the case, saying as per the apex court decision announced in 2018, one FIR should be registered in one crime.

The police spokesman confirmed that the raid was conducted in Karachi to arrest six staff members of the news channel, but refused to give further details.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2022