PTI activists held at Korangi protest rally granted bail

A day after the arrests of nine Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists at a protest rally in Korangi, a judicial magistrate granted bail to them on Monday.

The police produced the additional general secretary of party's Sindh chapter, Rizwan Niazi, Karachi chapter general secretary Arsalan Khalid, Saeed, Danish, Azeem Ahmed Khan, Syed Rahmatullah, Abdul Qadeer, Wali Mohammad, and Mohammad Ayaz Khan before Judicial Magistrate (East) Imran Ameer Ali and requested their physical remand for investigation.

The PTI's legal team, including Shujaat Ali Khan and Zahoor Mahsud, opposed the remand plea, stating that a fabricated and baseless case had been lodged against the party activists on political grounds.

They initially requested the magistrate to discharge the detained workers and quash the case.

However, the lawyers later filed an application seeking their release on bail. They argued that all the sections invoked against them were bailable except one related to criminal intimidation, adding that the section was not attracted in the case as the PTI activists didn't indulge in any such offence. After hearing arguments from both sides, the magistrate granted bail to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists against a surety of Rs10,000 each.

An FIR has been lodged at the Korangi police station under 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 337-A (shajjah), and 506-B (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the behalf of the state.