KARACHI: On Sunday, two major parties — the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party — accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan of attacking their respective offices in a bid to halt their election activities in Karachi’s Central district.
The two parties requested that the Election Commission of Pakistan take harsh measures against the MQM-P.
While the PPP named MQM-P personnel in a FIR filed at the Hyderi Market police station, the Azizabad police opened a case against ‘unknown individuals’ in response to the PTI’s allegation.
According to the PTI, they provided police with the identities of MQM-P members as well as footage of the attack on their workers, but law enforcement nonetheless filed a FIR against ‘unknown individuals’.
Falak Almas, a PTI spokesperson, stated that MQM-P workers attacked their NA-248 candidate Arsalan Khalid and other workers who were involved with Quran khwani in Azizabad.
According to Azizabad police, complainant Arsalan Khalid planned a milad on an empty land without alerting them.
They said it was not a political or election-related occurrence.
According to the FIR, the complainant stated that at approximately midnight, 100-200 unidentified individuals wearing masks entered the area where a milad was taking place. They struck Arsalan Khalid and his other coworkers with sticks, injuring him in the head.
According to Central SSP Faisal Chachar, a complaint has been filed for rioting and criminal intimidation.
Later same evening, the PTI staged a demonstration outside the provincial electoral commission building.
The party urged that the provincial electoral commission take stringent measures against the MQM-P.
Advocate Ali Palh, general secretary of the PTI-Sindh, and other attorneys met with ECP authorities to record their objection and express their worries over the security of their candidates and workers.
The PTI leader stated that they had spent the entire night in the police station, but their complaint was ignored despite the fact that they supplied the identities of the MQM-P militants engaged in the attack.
Attack on the PPP office.
According to the PPP, 40-50 MQM-P members stormed the election office of party candidate from NA-250 Khawja Sohail Mansoor in North Nazimabad on Saturday night.
Complainant Abdul Zahid Rana filed a FIR, claiming that the assailants destroyed the office, used insulting language against PPP leaders, and smashed their paintings.
He said that there were just four PPP employees at the office at the time of the event. “They beat us and forcibly expelled us from the office and threatened us to not open any office in district Central,” he said in the police report.
The police charged selected MQM-P workers with rioting and criminal intimidation.
Later that day, PPP leaders Saeed Ghani, Khawaja Sohail, Masroor Ahsan, and others accused the MQM-P of assaulting their district Central office in separate news appearances.
Speaking at a news conference to announce the joining of numerous MQM-P workers, Mr Ghani questioned how a peaceful election could be held in an environment when political party offices were being attacked.
He stated that the MQM-P had turned to nasty tactics following its defeat in the February 8 elections.
In another news conference, PPP district central leaders urged their opponents not to increase violence in the metropolis, stating that they will not tolerate the city’s tranquility being disrupted.
They advised the electoral commission to avoid any conflicts under any case.
The PPP leader said that burglars brandished weapons in their office and that MQM-P, shocked by recent defections to the PPP, assaulted their office.
Iqra Khan