ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the upcoming ‘Azadi March’ of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), scheduled for August 14.

A lawyer, Abdullah Tahir, in the petition contended that the Azadi March must be stopped as it would affect fundamental rights of the citizens and would also disturb daily life.

The petitioner, while citing interior ministry as the respondent, adopted before the court that the petitioner is a citizen of Islamabad and an advocate, with a law degree from London University.

The petition claims that PTI Chairman Imran Khan has accused the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and the election commission of “organised rigging” in the elections and has announced publicly that he is going to stage a protest at D-Chowk in Islamabad on August14.

The protest sit-in would make it hard for the residents of Islamabad, the petition says, adding that the PTI protest would violate the fundamental rights of the citizens of Islamabad.

Since Imran Khan has announced that he is going to stay for an indefinite period until his demands are fulfilled, his protest is going to affect the petitioner’s professional activities and also the trades and businesses in Islamabad. Hence it is going to infringe Article 18 of the Constitution, the petition maintained.

It said that the protest is going to put the lives of millions of people on stake, because of the present security situation of Pakistan, which is enshrined in article 9 of the Constitution.

It requested the court to pass directions to the interior ministry to restrain the August 14 protest and provide some other suitable place to the protesters, where the fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan are not going to be infringed.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2014