KARACHI: Police on Sunday clashed with protesters outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) for violating Section 144 when they demonstrated against the killing of blasphemy suspect Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar and “extremism in Sindh”.

Section 144 is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited period.

Organised as the “Sindh Rawadari March”, the protesters had gathered outside the Karachi Press Club Sunday to condemn the “extrajudicial” killing of Dr Shahnawaz, who had been accused of sharing blasphemous posts on social media and was shot dead under mysterious circumstances during a gun battle with the police in Mirpurkhas on September 19.

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The Sindh Rawadari March included progressive voices from across the Sindh province including human rights defenders, trade unions, and feminist movements.

TV and social media footage of the protest showed police performing baton charges on the demonstrators outside the KPC, including women.

At the same time, the religiopolitical party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) called a counter-protest at the KPC, however, police stopped them at Teen Talwar and near Capri cinema. Later, TLP protesters, too, ended up clashing with the police and Rangers.

KPC president Saeed Sarbazi told Dawn.com that the “police closed all routes leading to the press club with containers and buses, and even reporters and camera persons were not allowed entry.”

South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told media persons outside the KPC that protesters “belonging to both groups have been arrested.”

On the other hand, Karachi South Deputy Commissioner (DC) Altaf Sario visited the KPC, where Sarbazi informed him that Section 144 did not apply to the KPC as it has been declared a “Hyde Park” venue, where there was no ban on protests.

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The DC contended that Section 144 was imposed due to the risk of riots and violence not only in Karachi, but other parts of Sindh.

According to Sarbazi, the DC added that this was happening at a time when foreign dignitaries were arriving in Islamabad and “such situations might create a bad image for the country”. Foreign delegations are in the capital for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit hosted by Pakistan.

The DC told KPC office-bearers that he would also talk with the police.

After Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon talked with KPC officials, South DIG visited the venue and ordered the removal of all restrictions imposed there, said Sarbazi.

Meanwhile, witnesses and organisers of the march told Dawn.com that the police had been deployed on Sharea Faisal near the Finance & Trade Center (FTC), on main Korangi Road near Qayumabad, Toll Plaza on Superhighway, and other areas where people were being stopped and prevented from protesting.

There was also a large police detachment on the main MA Jinnah Road near Capri Cinema, where motorists are being stopped and checked by policemen, the protesters said.

1 dead, several injured as TLP holds counter-protest en route to KPC

One person was allegedly shot dead while several others, including policemen, were injured as TLP supporters clashed with police and Rangers in the Red Zone near Metropole while making their way to the KPC, according to organisers and witnesses.

They added that a large number of TLP protestors reached Metropole hotel where contingents of policemen tried to prevent them from moving towards the KPC, as civil society organisations were already protesting there against “extremism” in Sindh.

Police resorted to tear gas shelling to disperse them, which led to a violent clash, resulting in the alleged death of a protester and injuries to several others including policemen. One police mobile was also allegedly torched by the protestors.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said that the body of a man with a bullet wound in his head was brought to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) from the site of the protest. The police, however, have not specified the affiliation of the protester.

TLP spokesperson Rehan Mohammed Khan told that one of the party’s supporters, identified as Majid, was shot dead while several others were injured.

He accused Sindh Rangers of “directly” firing on the protestors.

Asked why they were moving towards the KPC where another protest was ongoing, the TLP spokesperson said the civil society activists had already staged their protest there.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024