MNA Alamgir Khan booked in sedition case over ‘anti-state institution graffiti’

Police have registered a case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Alamgir Khan over inciting violence against state intuitions.

The FIR No 438/22 was registered against the PTI leader on the request of SHO Ashraf Jogi at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station on Saturday.

The police accused Alamgir in the FIR for intentionally criticising sensitive institutions and superior judiciary, and trying to spread unrest and uncertainty in the public.

In his statement, the SHO stated that he was on his routine patrol when he saw a wall chalking against security institutions in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 6. A video also went viral on the internet showing Alamgir along with four to five men creating anti-state institutions graffiti.

The officer stated in the FIR that it was an attempt to create confusion and uncertainty among the people, and frustration among the security personnel.

The police also raided the residence of the MNA in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in the wee hours of Saturday but he was not there.

Besides the house of Alamgir, a police raid was also conducted in Defence at the residence of Bilal Khawaja, the PTI Karachi youth wing’s general secretary. His father told the media that he and his son were in Islamabad and it was yet to be ascertained who conducted the raid and why.

PTI’s reaction

Following the raid, the PTI appealed to its workers and supporters to gather outside the residence of Khan.

As some PTI workers and supporters gathered outside his residence, they staged a protest against the police raid and later, also registered a complaint at the police station claiming that the MNA had been implicated in a false case.

A large number of PTI supporters also gathered on Sharea Faisal to protest against raids at the houses of PTI leaders in Karachi and the arrest of former human rights minister Shireen Mazari in Islamabad.

PTI leaders, including former governor Imran Ismail, parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Khurrum Sher Zaman, MPA Shehzad Qureshi, Shah Nawaz Jadoon, Rabistan Khan and MNA Captain (retd) Jamil spoke to the protesters.

Condemning the arrest of Mazari and police raids at the houses of MNA Alamgir and Bilal, Ismail said that the ‘imported’ and ‘fascist’ government could not force the PTI workers to stop supporting Imran Khan and his narrative.

“There is not one Mazari in the party. Today, every mother, sister, and daughter in the country is Mazari,” he said. “The PTI struggles to save Pakistan. We will wait for Imran Khan’s call and go to Islamabad as soon as his call comes,” he said.

Alamgir also released a video statement, in which he said that the Sindh police had sent over 25 police mobiles to raid his residence as if he was a most-wanted terrorist.

Reacting to the registration of a sedition case against him and the raid at his house, the MNA said that such tactics could not force him to stop talking against the ‘imported’ government.

He also denied acting against state institutions, saying that he had no intention to malign any state institution in the graffiti. “I have already explained that this video has intentionally been given a wrong colour.” Alamgir said that he had also approached the Peshawar High Court to seek relief. “I am the one who selflessly served the country and city but it is sad that I am being accused of treason,” he said.

Meanwhile, PTI Sindh president and former federal minister for maritime affairs Ali Haider Zaidi said the Sindh police had become a military wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party. He warned that the Sindh government would be held accountable for its transgressions.

Zaidi said the police should besiege the Chief Minister’s House if they wanted to arrest culprits. Referring to the rising crime rate in the city, the former federal minister said the Sindh police had failed to arrest the robbers and street criminals in the port city but they were harassing noble citizens.

Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh also condemned the raid at Bilal’s residence in Defence area and alleged that the federal and provincial governments had compiled a list of the party’s key leaders and given it to police to take action against them before the rally in Islamabad.