On 24 October 2017 Junaid Awan, general secretary of the Karachi Division of the Pakistan Railway Workers Union (PRWU), was arrested and detained in police custody for three days. On 27 October a magistrate remanded the union leader to remain in police custody for a further three days.
His arrest followed a meeting on 7 October calling for the reintroduction of the axed Shah Latif and Mehran express trains. Awan’s lawyer said that the meeting had been called with the permission of the railway authorities. He was held under charges relating to the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Railway Regulations Authority Ordinance. His “crime”, it seems, was to have disrupted the railway service and to have spoken out against the Railways Minister.