KARACHI:The East district deputy commissioner will convene a meeting within 48 hours to finalize plans for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in the next 10 days, said the Sindh High Court (SHC) adding that representatives of PTI should be present in the meeting.
The court, in its written order, declared that prohibiting the rally is a violation of the petitioner’s fundamental rights. Specifically, the court held that this restriction violates Articles 16 and 17 of the Constitution.
The administration’s refusal to permit the rally goes against the decisions of the Supreme Court too, the SHC said.The court issued a written order over the PTI petition to allow it to hold a rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah Ground.
The city administration is not allowing the party to stage a public gathering, forcing it to take the matter to the court.
In the written order, the court directed the DC East to convene a meeting within 48 hours of receiving the order to discuss the rally. All stakeholders, including the applicant, PTI, must be included in the meeting. The court expects all matters to be resolved within a week without any discrimination.
SHC emphasized that there should be no delays or unjustified obstacles. If there is any threat in Bagh-e-Jinnah, a rally can be held at an alternative location through consensus. A report on implementing the court orders should be submitted within ten days, the order stated.
On May 13, DC East had submitted a sealed report, which has been thoroughly reviewed. The report failed to provide solid justification for disallowing the rally. Notably, a meeting was held on May 2 at a short distance from Bagh-e-Jinnah.
The court passed the observation that a security threat alert was issued before the rally on April 19. However, no concrete evidence or material was presented regarding the issuance of the threat alert.
East district DC and SSP and others were given an opportunity to justify not allowing the rally. Deputy Commissioner, SSP East, and others failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for prohibiting the rally, even after the deadline had passed.
The petitioner claimed that from the official stand, it seems that PTI is being discriminated against.
