The detention of numerous political activists and a significant police presence characterized Friday’s “Black Day” demonstrations across Sindh, as parties aligned with the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aeen-e-Pakistan protested the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
Protesters, wearing black armbands, gathered in front of press clubs and at major public locations throughout the province, condemning the constitutional change as an effort to ‘shred the Constitution’.
In Karachi, a demonstration called by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at the city’s press club was met with a substantial law enforcement response. Authorities sealed the main entry and exit points to the venue and took multiple PTI members into custody.
PTI’s Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, alongside Karachi President Raja Azhar, General Secretary Arsalan Khalid, and other party wing representatives, led a march towards Regal Chowk. Participants chanted slogans against the amendment and called for the release of PTI founder Imran Khan. Party officials reported that over two dozen activists were arrested during the protest.
Speaking at the event, Haleem Adil Sheikh asserted that the 27th Constitutional Amendment had ‘distorted and damaged the very spirit of the Constitution,’ claiming it was imposed against the public’s will.
He described the current administration as a ‘so-called government formed through Form-47’ that was ‘manoeuvred into place only to secure personal interests.’ Sheikh stated that both the 26th and 27th amendments were contrary to the people”s interests and had been ‘outrightly rejected by the nation’.
The PTI leader linked the protests to the case of Imran Khan, stating the former prime minister has been incarcerated for over two years for his struggle for ‘true freedom’ and faces fabricated cases. He warned that economic recovery is not possible without political stability, arguing that a ‘government with a stolen mandate cannot deliver’ and is instead focused on self-preservation amid rising inflation and unemployment.
Similar demonstrations were reported in other urban centres, including Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Sukkur, and Larkana. In the Mirpurkhas division, local PTI chief Aftab Qureshi was arrested along with more than two dozen colleagues, while dozens more were reportedly detained in Karachi and Hyderabad.
In response to the police actions, Sheikh condemned the arrests and demanded the immediate release of all detained party workers. ‘Peaceful protest is a constitutional right, and any attempt to snatch this right will be strongly resisted,’ he declared.