Ten police faculty were suspended on Monday for their “oppressiveness and abuse” of ladies dissidents at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) a day sooner, authorities said.
In violation of Section 144, which grants district administrations the authority to temporarily prohibit a gathering of four or more people in a given area, police clashed with protesters outside KPC on Sunday.
Dr. Shahnawaz Kunbhar, who was accused of sharing blasphemous posts on social media, was shot dead under mysterious circumstances during a gun battle with the police on September 19 in Mirpurkhas. The protesters had organized the “Sindh Rawadari March” to protest the “extrajudicial” killing. Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar acknowledged that the police had “staged the encounter” following an investigation into the incident.
At the same time, a counterprotest had been called by the religious and political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) at the KPC; However, police stopped them near Capri Cinema and at Teen Talwar. Later, TLP protesters clashed with police and Rangers as well.
Women among the protesters outside the KPC were the targets of baton charges by police, as evidenced by footage broadcast on television and shared on social media.
