ISLAMABAD: The capital police on Tuesday allegedly raided ‘The Black Hole’, a small community hall in Islamabad’s G-11 sector, minutes before start of a panel discussion on the issue of the repatriation of the Afghan refugees.

A participant of the panel discussion told Dawn that a team of the Islamabad Police, led by Station House Officer (SHO) of Ramna police station Alamgir Khan, raided ‘The Black Hole’ community hall, where a panel discussion was to take place on the issue of the repatriation of Afghan refugees.

He said that eminent politician Afrasiab Khattak and the author and researcher Sajjad Azhar were to take part in the discussion.

The SHO, he alleged, ordered the organisers to cancel the event and claimed that he had come there on the deputy commissioner’s order.

The police officer, he said, failed to provide a written order to this effect. He alleged that some of the police personnel manhandled the staff members and threw one of them in the police vehicle.

Later, when the police noticed the arrival of a few news reporters with cameras, they backed down and left the venue, he said.

Before leaving, he said, the SHO hurled threats of dire consequences at a senior staff member of The Black Hole.

Although Mr Khattak and Mr Azhar refused to be intimidated by the police threats, the organisers decided to abandon the event.

The Black Hole is a community space created for open discussions and creative discourse on various social issues.

It has been working since early 2022. It may be mentioned that it has hosted over 450 events in one year since its inception.

SHO Mr Khan, when contacted, denied that the police raided The Black Hole.

He said the police had reached the venue and only asked for an NOC (no objection certificate) from the organisers of the programme as Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed on capital by the city administration.

However, he said, the organisers failed to produce any NOC, and in response, the police asked to cancel the discussion.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2023