KARACHI: The Sindh High Court was informed on Friday that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s appliction seeking permission to hold a public meeting near the Mazar-i-Quaid could not be entertained for at least four weeks due to an imminent threat.em

The district administration contended that as per police, there was an imminent threat posed to the life and property of the public and, therefore, permission could not be accorded at least for four weeks or till the threat was neutralised.

At the last hearing, the SHC had directed the officials concerned to furnish a compliance report on the subject matter by April 19, if there was no legal impediment.

When a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi took up the matter for hearing on Friday, deputy commissioner (East) Shahzad Abbasi along with Additional Advocate General (AAG) Saifullah turned up and filed a report/statement along with annexures.

Bench asks authorities to give a reasonable justification for denial of permission

The AAG submitted that there was a threat to the public and recently, an incident of terrorism had also taken place in a Malir locality.

The chief justice inquired as to when such a threat would be neutralised and the administration would be able to grant permission for the gathering. The AAG said that as per district administration, it may take a month.

Responding to another query of the chief justice about any other political gathering, the lawyer for petitioner, Ali Tahir, argued that the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League had held a public meeting at Shahrah-i-Quaideen a couple of days ago. However, the DC submitted that no such permission was granted for the gathering.

At this, the chief justice asked the officials as to what action had been taken against the persons concerned for holding the public meeting without permission. However, the DC and other officials could not offer any suitable reply.

The chief justice further said that the court would not be convinced until a reasonable justification was offered for denying permission for public meeting.

While addressing the petitioner and his lawyer, he also remarked that if any untoward incident happened during the gathering, the administration would hold them accountable.

The bench adjourned the hearing till May 6, after the lawyer for petitioner sought a short adjournment to examine the report of district administration.

The DC in his statement also attached the reports of SSP (East), SHO Brigade and assistant commissioner concerned.

The police officials in their reports stated that security vetting and ground checks were conducted and it had transpired that in the wake of recent developments nationally and geopolitically, the hostile elements were engaging more actively in the terrorist and sabotage activities in the country.

“That numerous threat alerts are received from sister agencies, especially regarding Karachi, in which hostile elements are planning to carrying out terrorist and sabotage actives, which may result in loss of lives of the innocent citizens”, the reports said.

PTI-Sindh general secretary Ali Ahmed Palh petitioned the SHC and submitted that the party had approached the district and provincial administration on a number of occasions for permission or no-objection certificate to hold a public gathering, but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2024