On Monday, the Islamabad administration implemented Section 144 in the capital territory for two months, less than a week before the PTI’s eagerly anticipated November 24 power display.
Section 144
Section 144 is a legal provision that allows district administrations to temporarily prohibit the assembly of four or more individuals in a specific area. Several prominent PTI leaders were apprehended outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi last week for violating Section 144. However, they were released shortly thereafter after receiving a warning, according to the police.
At the same time, Imran Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a former prime minister, issued a “final call” for nationwide protests on November 24. In his statement, he denounced the stolen mandate, the arbitrary detention of individuals, and the passage of the 26th Amendment, which he claimed strengthened a “dictatorial regime.”
He referred to the protests as a diagnostic test for the PTI and encouraged the active involvement of the legal community, civil society, and expatriate supporters.
The office of Islamabad District Magistrate Usman Ashraf has issued a series of notifications today, copies of which are available on Dawn.com. These notifications indicate that Section 144 has been implemented in response to the “unlawful assemblies” that “certain segments of society” are planning to disrupt public peace and tranquility.
The capital has prohibited public gatherings of five or more individuals, as they have the potential to “threaten public peace and tranquility, cause public annoyance or injury, endanger human life and safety, pose a threat to public property, and … lead to a riot or an affray including sectarian riot within the revenue/territorial limits of district Islamabad.”
Moreover, the order prohibits the use of sound systems to broadcast “all types of objectionable/sectarian-related speeches and sermons,” as indicated by the notifications. In the same vein, the utilization of loudspeakers to disparage “political/social groups/religious sects” has been prohibited.
Additionally, the district magistrate prohibited the distribution of handbills, pamphlets, and the affixing of posters, as well as the display of firearms by individuals other than law enforcement and security agencies, under Section 144.
The prohibition on protests was “malafide and illegal” if it were imposed every time Imran called for a “peaceful protest,” according to PTI leader Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra in response to the notifications.
In the interim, Haleem Adil Sheikh, the President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh, visited seven districts and engaged in discussions with lawyers from the Karachi Bar Association, extending an invitation to them to participate in the march, according to a press release issued by the Sindh media cell of the PTI.
“The Karachi Bar Association has consistently been instrumental in the defense of the judiciary and the enforcement of the law, particularly in its opposition to the 26th constitutional amendment,” Sheikh stated.
Furthermore, he criticized the government, asserting that it had undermined judicial authority by enacting the 26th constitutional amendment.
“The country is at risk of descending into a state of anarchy if the judiciary is unable to deliver justice,” he cautioned.
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