Sensitive security situation related to PSL: Police take action against protesters outside CM House: Saeed Ghani

KARACHI: Sindh Information and Labour Minister, Saeed Ghani, said that Karachi is going to host the seventh edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL), so the resultant sensitivity related to the security situation compelled the Sindh Police to take action against the protesters outside the Chief Minister House, Karachi.

In a handout issued on Wednesday, the Sindh information minister once again made it clear that street agitation wouldn’t resolve the issue of provincial local government law. He also clarified that the Pakistan People’s Party was not against the protests held by the opposition parties but the protesters should also take care of the public’s rights. The Sindh government had always supported the peaceful protests as permissions in this regard had been granted to the opponent political entities.

He said the Sindh government had no intention to impose any ban on the political activities, adding the Jamaat-e-Islami had been protesting outside the Sindh Assembly for the past 26 days but the government did not interfere in their protest sit-in. He said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan had initially announced to hold a protest rally from Sharea Faisal to Karachi Press Club but later on they changed the route of their protest march all of a sudden as the protesters started moving towards the Sindh CM House.

He said that in the recent past, the CM House had witnessed peaceful sit-ins and protest demonstrations as the government hadn’t taken any action against the protesters. “But, today, the situation was different,” he added. He mentioned that players of the teams participating in the PSL had been staying in the hotels situated near the CM House. Therefore, the entire area had been declared a high-security zone as all such activities had been banned in the area, Ghani said.

He said that the police authorities held talks with the MQM-P’s leaders and advised them to go to Karachi Press Club and protest there but they declined to move from there. He said the police was compelled to take the action to disperse the protesters to save the PSL from any negative fallout. The government couldn’t compromise on the issue of security of the international players lodging at the hotels near the CM House, he added.

He said the police did not take any action against the MQM-P, when earlier in the day it blocked Sharea Faisal, adding the city’s administration had earlier been formally informed that the protest rally of MQM-P would be held from Sharea Faisal to the Karachi Press Club. The minister further said the participants of the MQM-P’s rally moving towards the CM House had been stopped and informed about the presence of foreign PSL players lodging at the hotels in the area.

He said that certain acts of highhandedness on the part of Sindh Police were undue and shouldn’t have been taken, including torturing the lawmakers and women activists of MQM-P. He, however, said that the MQM-P was fully responsible for whatever action had been taken against them outside the CM House.

He claimed that the MQM-P and other opposition parties had been protesting against the local government law in Sindh as in fact, their agenda was to divert public attention away from genuine issues of masses.