IHC CJ Athar Minallah bars govt from harassing PTI leaders

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday barred the government from harassing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members without any case.

The court has issued notices to the chief commissioner, inspector general police and deputy commissioner in this regard.

Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah took up the PTI petition to restrain the government from harassing PTI leaders.

Hearing the PTI plea to bar the government from creating hurdles in the way of the “Azadi March” on May 25, the IHC in its order said, “Make sure that no one is harassed needlessly”.

After the announcement of Azadi March on May 25 by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the police raided the houses of PTI leaders to arrest them in a bid to restrain them from joining their leader’s call.

Read more: Crackdown by Police on PTI leaders ahead of long march

During the hearing, PTI’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar argued that under the constitution everyone has the right for peaceful protest. He told the court that police raided the houses of PTI leaders on Monday night.

Hearing the argument Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that Supreme Court’s directives were very much clear regarding rallies and sit-in. “IHC will follow the principles set by the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” he said.

To this, the PTI counsel said the party will also follow the principles set by the Supreme Court. He said the government was harassing PTI members to restrict them to join Azadi March on May 25.

Justice Minallah remarked that judgement regarding rallies and sit-ins were given by the high court as well. “Peaceful protest is your right,” he added and said that the court could not take responsibility if any incident took place during the Azadi March.

Justice Minallah remarked that we cannot just give general order. “This court cannot take responsibility. God forbid, if any incident happens who would be accountable,” he asked.

PTI counsel argued that PTI wanted peaceful protest but police were creating problems for them. Police had also raided the houses of former judges, he added.

Justice Minallah asked PTI counsel as you cannot submit an affidavit that the march will remain peaceful and no incident will take place like this court cannot give general order.

PTI counsel requested the court to suspend the hearing so that he could go through SC directives regarding rallies and sit-ins.

Justice Minallah recalled that the IHC had issued an order regarding a protest march in 2014, after which the Pakistan Television (PTV) headquarters and parliament were “attacked”. “We are not saying your party did that but an incident took place,” he said.

Justice Minallah asked PTI counsel to go through court directives regarding a 2019 protest.

The PTI counsel requested the court that they wanted to stop police from arresting PTI leaders.

To this, Chief Justice IHC asked if an application had been submitted to the district administration for the March 25 protest. PTI counsel replied an application had been submitted to the district magistrate.

Later, the court ordered the government not to harass PTI leaders and adjourned the hearing till May 27.

For the latest BOL Live News, Follow on Google News. Read more on Latest Pakistan News on oldsite.bolnews.com