• Protest causes gridlock on busy roads during rush hour
• Religious party activists wanted FIR against organisers of Minority Rights March, officials say

KARACHI: Police on Friday resorted to baton charge, fired bullets and tear-gas shells into the air when workers of a religious party pelted them with stones near the Central Police Office (CPO) on I.I. Chundrigar Road near Merewether Clock Tower.

Tehreek Labaik Pakistan (TLP) activists gathered near Tower to march on the CPO in an attempt to register their protest against authorities for not registering their FIR against organisers of the recently held Minority Rights March.

Their protest caused a traffic mess on M A Jinnah Road, M T Khan Road, I.I. Chundrigar Road and other arteries as vehicles were diverted to alternative routes by the traffic police.

When several workers of the religious party reached Tower, contingents of police led by City SSP Arif Aziz and SSP-Keamari Faizan Ali stopped them from moving towards CPO.

The workers allegedly pelted the police with stones resulting in injuries to several policemen.

City SSP Arif Aziz told Dawn that they resorted to baton charge and fired shots into the air to disperse protesters because they attacked policemen and misbehaved with them.

He added that the TLP workers initially wanted to express their ‘reservations’ against the recently held Minority Rights March at Frere Hall, but later on they the raised the number of their demands and said that next time a no-objection certificate (NOC) should not be given them to hold such a march.

The officer said that some protesters were also taken into custody.

However, TLP spokesperson Rehan Mohammed Khan told Dawn that for the last 12 days they wanted to hold a peaceful protest outside the IGP office, but the police were not entertaining their application for lodging an FIR against the organisers of the Minority Rights March.

The TLP spokesperson said that they had announced that if the FIR was not registered within 48 hours, they would hold a demonstration.

He claimed that the police resorted to baton charge, aerial firing and fired tear-gas shells on their workers, resulting in injuries to some workers. Several workers were also arrested, he added.

He claimed that they wanted to lodge their protest because ‘fake’ propaganda was launched against Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code by organizers of the march.

DIG-South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that TLP leader Qasim Fakhri and scores of workers were detained but later released on the assurance that they would not stage any unlawful protest.

Meanwhile, the City police spokesperson said during the TLP sit-in, the protesters attacked the SSP City’s vehicle with stones and injured several policemen.

The police spokesperson in a statement added that chief security officer Asif Rauf, DSP Baghdadi Zafar Iqbal, ASI Saleem and other policemen were injured in the stone attack. The City SSP’s vehicle was also damaged.

Later on, the TLP spokesperson said they ended their protest after the police released their detained workers.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Friday night, the TLP claimed that they ended their protest after the Sindh home department issued a notification through which it asked the authorities as to explain violations of code of conduct during the minority rights march.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2024