PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday allowed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to carry out thecampaign for next elections in the province, including the holding of public gatherings, and asked it to strictly follow the conditions set by the district administration for the purpose.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmad ordered the PTI to adopt “proper procedure for holding public meetings as devised by the administration to avoid creation of any law and order situation.

It accepted a petition jointly filed by PTI provincial president Ali Amin Gandapur, provincial legal coordinator Mashal Azam and provincial vice-president of the Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF) Malik Arshad Ahmad to seek multiple reliefs.

The petitioners had requested the court to direct the respondents, including the provincial chief secretary, to allow members of the PTI to conduct thecampaign for their candidates in the upcoming general elections.

The bench declared that if petitioners faced any hurdle to its peaceful political activities, they could approach it again.

Provincial advocate general Aamir Javed contended that holding peaceful meetings and carrying out political activities was the constitutional right of an individual and a party but the district administration had set certain conditions for the purpose.

He rejected the claim of the petitioners that the party had been stopped from carrying out political activities, stating that they had not adopted proper procedure in that regard.

Mr Javed said the petitioners had referred to an instance where they wanted to hold a public meeting in Karak on Sept 28.

He, however, said the Awami National Party had applied for permission to hold a meeting there on Sept 15, while the PTI gave an application to the administration for it on Sept 20/

The advocate general added that the relevant district police officer had stated that it won’t be possible for the police to provide security to two meetings simultaneously.

A panel of lawyers comprising Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah, Inam Yousafzai, Ali Zaman, Arshad Ali and others appeared for the petitioners, whereas the provincial government was represented by the AG and additional advocate general Danyal Asad Chamkani.

Lawyers for the petitioners contended around 75 applications were given by the party across the province for holding public meetings but none of those were accepted by the respective district administrations.

They added that the party was not a banned entity, so stopping its members from exercising their fundamental rights and campaigning for their candidates in the upcoming elections was not only against their fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution but was also discriminatory under the law.

The lawyers added that free and fair elections won’t be possible in such circumstances.

Lawyer Shah Faisal said after the regime change in 2022, a massive crackdown was launched on the PTI members and even many attempts were made on the life of party chairman Imran Khan.

He contended that all major political parties had started their political campaign for the forthcoming general elections, but the PTI wasn’t permitted to do so and even it couldn’t hold a meeting inside a house.

The lawyer said recently, a corner meeting was held at the residence of former provincial minister and PTI leader Atif Khan in Mardan but the police registered an FIR against it.

The AG responded that though Atif Khan was a former provincial minister, he was an absconder, so no political meeting could be allowed at his house.

In a lighter vein, Justice Ijaz Anwar observed that it was not something unusual in the country as even absconders had been received with full government protocol.

The counsel for petitioners said recently, the administration of Khyber tribal district rejected the PTI’s application for a public meeting.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2023