A local court sent 15 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers, booked by Koral Police Station last Thursday for removing banners installed by a newspaper, on judicial remand on Friday.
The banners had been installed at Koral Chowk and bore slogans against National Assembly Opposition Leader Nisar Ali Khan. A daily newspaper, owned by property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain, claimed that it had displayed banners at Koral Chowk which were torn down by the PML-N workers at the behest of Nisar.
The newspaper’s administration submitted an application in the Koral Police Station to register a first information report (FIR) against Nisar and his workers. Police later registered the FIR against the opposition leader and his workers, a police source said.
He said police also registered another FIR against Nisar and the PML-N workers in which it claimed the PML-N activists had hurled stones at police officers when police tried to stop them form tearing down the banners.
Later, higher-ups of police, under pressure from top politicians, transferred the Koral Police Station SHO Mahar Munawar Hussain, who had registered the FIR against Nisar, and appointed Inspector Rasheed Niazi station house officer of the Koral Police Station.
Niazi told Pakistan Today said that Nisar’s name was not included in the FIR. “The court has sent 15 PML-N workers booked by police on charge of removing banners to jail,” he said.