Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of Sindh Assembly staged a protest outside Sindh Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar’s office against the arrest of PTI workers.
PTI activists were carrying water pitchers, locally known as lota, with pictures of deviant PTI lawmakers. Lota, like turncoat, is a derogatory term for opportunist politicians or lawmakers who switch allegiance.
Opposition Leader Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, Parliamentary Leader Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman and MPAs Riaz Haider, Dr. Sanjay Gangwani, Bilal Ghaffar, Shehzad Qureshi, Jamal Siddiqui, Shahnawaz Jadoon, Saeed Afridi, Adeel Ahmed, Raja Azhar, Dr Seema Zia, Adiba Hassan, Sidrah Imran and others were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh demanded Sindh IG to clarify whether calling a lota a lota was a crime.
“Yesterday, our MPAs arrived with the PTI workers to expose those engaged in horse trading,” he said, adding that PTI members were protesting far away from Ramesh Kumar Vankwani's house, a PTI member allegedly involved in selling his loyalty ahead of the no-confidence vote against PM Imran Khan.
Sheikh accused the police of torturing PTI workers and implicating them in false cases including serious provisions of kidnapping.
The Sindh assembly opposition leader further said that PTI members are not afraid of arrests. He warned that every PTI worker of Karachi will come if the leadership gives call for protest.
He demanded that the case of NAB-hit SSP should be disposed of immediately, he demanded, urging that politics of revenge and actions against PTI should be stopped.
Read More: PTI lawmakers desperate to jump ship: Maryam
PTI Sindh Assembly member Saeed Afridi speaking on the occasion said that PTI workers protested away from Ramesh Kumar's house and were dispersing peacefully when the South district SSP came and police started making arrests and raids.
Police are unjustly disrespecting the sanctity of homes and intruding their privacy.
Siege of Boat Basin
police station
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members of provincial assembly Bilal Ghaffar, Shehzad Qureshi, Raja Azhar and Ali Aziz along with more than a dozen party workers staged a protest outside the Boat Basin police station in Clifton against the arrest of PTI workers Noman Afridi, Fayaz, Nasir Khan, Humayon.
The PIT men surrounded the Boat Basin police station in the early hours of Monday after police hauled away the some workers for holding a protest outside dissident PTI MNA Ramesh Kumar Vankwani’s house late on Sunday night.
The PTI MPAs criticised and condemned the police action against party workers and demanded their immediate release. All the detained PTI workers were released on the orders of Clifton SP Rohail Khoso following talks with the PTI lawmakers. Ghaffar said police have assured of no raids on homes of PTI worker.
Meanwhile, talking to the media, Bilal Ghaffar said that police raided the homes of PTI leaders without a warrant and arrested them and their family members. He said the police crossed the legal boundaries.
He demanded of Sindh IG Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar to tell on whose orders PTI workers and their families were being harassed.
Ghaffar claimed that police were keeping the arrested workers at different places. He said that there were no charges against PTI workers still they have been arrested.
He said that PTI workers staged a protest away from the house of dissident PTI MNA Ramesh Kumar. Despite this, cases were registered against them. "We are with our innocent workers. We are not afraid of Murad Ali Shah’s tactics.”
In his statement, Ali Aziz GG said police illegally detained the workers with on the directives of Vankwani and Sindh government. He questioned that under what law were the workers arrested after the protest, which was held at a considerable distance from Vankwani’s house?
In his comments, Raja Azhar said that the workers staged a peaceful protest against the betrayal of Vankwani. Police along with SSP South misbehaved with members, after protest.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2022.
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