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Published 21 Mar, 2022 11:00pm

2 PTI MPAs, others booked for allegedly forcing way into dissident lawmaker's apartment in Karachi

Karachi police on Monday booked two Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf (PTI) MPAs and others on charges of rioting outside and forcibly entering the residence of their party's dissident MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani in the city's Bath Island area.

A first information report (FIR) against PTI members, including the pair of lawmakers, was registered on the state's behalf through Sub-Inspector (SI) Fatah Mohammed.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting while armed with deadly weapon), 149 (an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of a common object), 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 506-B (punishment for criminal intimidation), 353 (Use of assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter term) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the FIR, a police party was patrolling the area near Government Officers Residences in Bath Island on Sunday night when they received information that PTI MPAs Shah Nawaz Jadoon and Saeed Ahmed, along with 50 to 60 armed persons, had forcibly entered Vankwani's apartment in Bath Island.

They also shouted slogans of 'lota, lota' (turncoat) outside the MNA's house, the FIR said.

It quoted complainant SI Mohammed as saying that the police tried to disperse the PTI members but they continued to shout slogans against Vankwani and also used abusive language for him.

They "forcibly" entered Vankwani's apartment and threatened to take him away by force, the FIR said.

According to the complainant's statement, they told Vankwani that he and his family would not be spared if he voted on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The complainant said senior police officers were informed of the incident and more policemen were called to the site.

Vankwani is among several dissident PTI lawmakers who came out in the open last week, amid shifting alliances and rising temperature on the country's political landscape ahead of a no-trust vote against PM Imran.

He and several other PTI MNAs were found staying at the Sindh House in Islamabad last Thursday, which the government alleged had become a hub of horse-trading.

At the time, Vankwani told DawnNewsTV that a pair of men from the PTI had recently come to the Parliament Lodges and accused him of "being a traitor to the party" and even threatened to vandalise his cars.

"Then I approached Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah through someone and told him that I wanted a room at Sindh House. Murad Ali Shah said all rooms were booked but I told him my problem was genuine," he had said.

The MNA had also claimed that many of his fellow PTI lawmakers staying at the Sindh House intended to join other parties while three federal ministers had already left the ruling party.

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