A Pakistan day rally organized by the PTI on Sunday met “resistance” when he arrived at the Mazar-Quaid, according to a party statement.
According to the statement issued by the spokesman of the Mohammed Ali Bozdar party, the demonstration was led by PTI Sindh president, Haleem Adil Sheikh, the president of Karachi, Raja Azhar, Secretary General Arsalan Khalid and other party leaders.
The demonstration, which began from the Empress market, was scheduled to get to Mazar-Qaid. “However, the police authorities placed barricades in multiple locations in an attempt to obstruct the march,” reads the statement.
“A large police deployment was observed around the press club, while in Mazar -quaid, officials allegedly used the strength to disperse the participants, which turned out that several PTI workers were mistreated,” the party alleged.
Contenting police action, Haleem Adil Sheikh was summoned by saying: “We are Patriotic Pakistani, however, they prevent us from celebrating Pakistan’s day. We carry national flags, not weapons.”
He claimed that the Sindh government was operating under a “dictatorship” directed by the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, claiming that the police were focusing on suppressing the PTI instead of curbing street crime in Karachi.
Raja Azhar also denounced repression, questioning: “As Pakistani citizens, we have no right to celebrate Pakistan’s day?”
In the statement, he said that Bilawal’s “illegitimate government” was coming to an end and predicted the fall of the Popular Party of Pakistan (PPP) in Sindh.
“During the demonstration, the participants stirred the Pakistani and PTI flags while sanging slogans that demanded the release of Imran Khan and criticized government policies,” reads the statement.
When it was contacted, said the deputy inspector of the South Syed Asad Raza Police Dawn.com That police cordoned off the Karachi Press Club due to “security reasons” for parking buses in Sarwar Shaheed Road along others and erecting temporary barriers.
