Jinnah Ground turns into battlefield as PTI, MQM workers clash

KARACHI: The Jinnah Ground in Azizabad turned into a battlefield on Tuesday when charged workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) pelted stones at each other amid loud sloganeering. The incident occurred when a delegation of the PTI reached the venue to oversee preparations for a rally in connection with the NA-246 by-election.
TV footage showed men, wielding bats and bricks attacking the convoy of PTI candidate Imran Ismail and smashing the windows of a white Land Cruiser with bats. The windows of another car were also smashed.
As Imran Ismail visited the area to examine the arrangements for his election campaign, MQM workers started gathering there and chanted loud slogans against Imran Khan. The PTI workers reciprocated, which resulted in a clash.
Later, addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Imran Ismail asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leadership to control what he described as its “thugs” who had manhandled the PTI convoy.
He said they would also register an FIR against those who attacked the PTI supporters and activists.“The PTI delegation was attacked by MQM supporters. They pelted stones and smashed my car, and the window panes of other cars were also broken,” he alleged.
“My workers and I were pelted with sticks and stones by the MQM workers while we were overseeing the rally preparations at the Jinnah Ground,” claimed Ismail. He said many PTI workers were also injured.
Ismail’s press conference also came under fire as he unexpectedly spoke to the media at the KPC without the prior permission of the KPC management.This also created confusion between the media persons as they were waiting for the MQM’s press conference and all of a sudden the PTI leader appeared and started giving details to the media about the assault at PTI workers.
The KPC Secretary, AH Khanzada, however, interfered in the middle of the press conference and asked Ismail that there were certain rules and regulations and these should be respected. But by that time Ismail had conveyed his complete message and said his press conference was over and he was leaving.
Before holding the press conference, Ismail also informed the MQM MNA Asif Hasnain about the whole ugly drama that took place at the Jinnah Ground.On the opther hand, rejecting the allegation that the MQM workers had manhandled a PTI delegation, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday said the PTI leaders had torn the portraits of Altaf Hussain and even desecrated the Yadgar-e-Shuda where about 20,000 people who had rendered sacrifices were buried.
In a hurriedly-called press conference at the 90, Haider Abbas Rizvi alleged that Imran Ismail entered the premises with his ‘gangsters’ raising a pistol in air as though he had ‘conquered” Azizabad.
He said Ismail faced no resistance at the hands of MQM supporters but rather his activists showed rudeness and tore the portraits of Altaf Hussain, which infuriated his followers. He said the MQM had no fear of PTI in the NA-246 by-election, as it was an MQM stronghold.
“They abused the MQM leadership and its martyrs while standing on the monuments which triggered a violent response from the residents of the area,” he added. “The MQM does not face any threats from any political parties, as it has been winning the seat for the last 20 years,” he said and urged the authorities concerned to form a code of conduct for the by-election in NA-246.
Rizvi slammed the PTI leaders for vandalism and appealed to the government that the PTI should not be allowed to hold a rally on April 19, as their intentions were not good. Meanwhile, PTI leader Azizullah Khan Afridi on Tuesday night lodged a complaint against unknown MQM workers for attacking his party’s activists and leaders during a visit to the Jinnah Ground, Azizabad.
Azizabad SHO Saleemullah Qureshi said they had received the PTI complaint by post.According to the FIR, a PTI Karachi team, along with the party candidate Imran Ismail, went to the office of the deputy commissioner Central to submit an application for permission to hold a rally at the Jinnah Ground.
The team, along with reporters of different TV channels, visited the venue of the rally, the FIR said.Afridi said in the FIR that after their very peaceful visit when his party’s candidate was talking to the media, a mob with sticks and stones suddenly came from the streets of the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, and started violently attacking the PTI workers.
Later, a three-member MQM delegation, comprising Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Gulzar Khan and Aslam Afridi, lodged an FIR against Imran Ismail, Azizullah Afridi and unknown PTI workers.Talking to The News, DIG West Range Feroz Shah said no MQM leader was named in the PTI FIR.
He said he had convened a meeting of leaders of both the parties in order to persuade them to withdraw their complaints. He said he would ask both sides to form and follow a code of conduct for the NA-246 by-polls and not to create a law and order situation in the future.
Meanwhile, Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Qadir Thebo summoned a meeting of the leaderships of both the parties at the office of the commissioner Karachi to finalise the code of conduct.Meanwhile, affected families of MQM whose near and dear ones were allegedly picked up by the law-enforcement agencies (Rangers) between Sunday and Monday night, told the media that 32 people were arrested from the Musharraf Colony and Balida Town.
Along the MNA of NA-239 Salman Mujhaid Baloch, they appealed to the president, prime minister and chief of the army staff to release their dear ones who were picked up by the LEAs without any charge, demanding that they also be allowed to meet them.