ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s Punjab province has banned all public gatherings in Bahawalpur, Faisalabad and Mianwali cities, the Punjab home department said on Tuesday, following the announcement of protest rallies by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is protesting the government’s proposed constitutional amendments that it says are being used to suppress the freedom of the judiciary, an allegation the government denies. The party has announced rallies in the three Punjab cities on Oct. 2. It also aims to build public pressure on the government for the release of Khan, who has been in jail on a slew of charges from treason to corruption.
In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Punjab home department said that in view of prevailing law and order situation and security threats, any political gathering or assembly could provide a soft target to militants and was likely to cause “threat to public peace and order as well as inconvenience to public at large.”
“Therefore, Government of the Punjab, in exercise of powers vested under Section 144 (6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, hereby, prohibits all kinds of political assemblies, gatherings, sits-in, rallies, demonstrations, jalsas, protests & such like other activities in district Bahawalpur with effect from October 02 to 03,” the home department said.
Similar notifications were issued with regard to Faisalabad and Mianwali cities, local media reported. The Section 144 provision allows authorities to prohibit assembly of four or more people.
On Saturday, situation became tense in and around the garrison city of Rawalpindi as police fired tear gas shells to disperse hundreds of Khan supporters ahead of a protest in the city to demand Khan’s release.
The ex-PM has been in jail since August last year on multiple charges including corruption, sedition and terrorism. Khan says the cases against him are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from politics.
After a rally in Islamabad on Sept. 8, a number of PTI legislators were arrested on charges of violating an agreement on the basis of which permission for the rally was given, including abiding by a time limit and supporters sticking to certain routes to reach the designated venue for the rally on Islamabad’s outskirts.
Khan’s party says the challenges in holding rallies are part of an over year-long crackdown it has faced since protesters allegedly linked to the party attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after the former premier’s brief arrest the same day in a land graft case.
Hundreds of PTI followers and leaders were arrested following the riots and many remain behind bars as they await trial. The military, which says Khan and his party were behind the attacks, has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence.
Khan, who has been in jail since last August, was ousted from the PM’s office in 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which denies being involved in politics.
Punjab bans public gatherings as ex-PM Khan’s party announces rallies in three cities
https://arab.news/2ybxr
Punjab bans public gatherings as ex-PM Khan’s party announces rallies in three cities
- Khan’s party is protesting the government’s proposed constitutional amendments that it says will suppress the judiciary’s freedom, an allegation the government denies
- Punjab home department says any political gathering or assembly could provide a soft target to militants in view of prevailing law and order situation and security threats
Sindh assembly passes resolution rejecting move to separate Karachi
- Chief Minister Shah cites constitutional safeguards against altering provincial boundaries
- Calls to separate Karachi intensified amid governance concerns after a mall fire last month
ISLAMABAD: The provincial assembly of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Saturday passed a resolution rejecting any move to separate Karachi, declaring its territorial integrity “non-negotiable” amid political calls to carve the city out as a separate administrative unit.
The resolution comes after fresh demands by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and other voices to grant Karachi provincial or federal status following governance challenges highlighted by the deadly Gul Plaza fire earlier this year that killed 80 people.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most densely populated city, is the country’s main commercial hub and contributes a significant share to the national economy.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah tabled the resolution in the assembly, condemning what he described as “divisive statements” about breaking up Sindh or detaching Karachi.
“The province that played a foundational role in the creation of Pakistan cannot allow the fragmentation of its own historic homeland,” Shah told lawmakers, adding that any attempt to divide Sindh or separate Karachi was contrary to the constitution and democratic norms.
Citing Article 239 of Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution, which requires the consent of not less than two-thirds of a provincial assembly to alter provincial boundaries, Shah said any such move could not proceed without the assembly’s approval.
“If any such move is attempted, it is this Assembly — by a two-thirds majority — that will decide,” he said.
The resolution reaffirmed that Karachi would “forever remain” an integral part of Sindh and directed the provincial government to forward the motion to the president, prime minister and parliamentary leadership for record.
Shah said the resolution was not aimed at anyone but referred to the shifting stance of MQM in the debate while warning that opposing the resolution would amount to supporting the division of Sindh.
The party has been a major political force in Karachi with a significant vote bank in the city and has frequently criticized Shah’s provincial administration over its governance of Pakistan’s largest metropolis.
Taha Ahmed Khan, a senior MQM leader, acknowledged that his party had “presented its demand openly on television channels with clear and logical arguments” to separate Karachi from Sindh.
“It is a purely constitutional debate,” he told Arab News by phone. “We are aware that the Pakistan Peoples Party, which rules the province, holds a two-thirds majority and that a new province cannot be created at this stage. But that does not mean new provinces can never be formed.”
Calls to alter Karachi’s status have periodically surfaced amid longstanding complaints over governance, infrastructure and administrative control in the megacity, though no formal proposal to redraw provincial boundaries has been introduced at the federal level.
