• CJ Aamer Farooq unhappy with govt’s handling of PTI protest, asks it to explain why businesses were forcibly shut
• Deputy PM reassures diplomatic corps of foolproof security, says Red Zone is ‘protest-free territory’; PTI accuses Dar of spreading ‘misinformation’

ISLAMABAD: As Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar briefed the diplomatic corps about recent protests in the federal capital during which the government virtually sealed the city, the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday was irked by the government’s decision to shut down Islamabad for days to keep the protesters at bay.

During the PTI protest which lasted three days, three paramilitary personnel and one police official were killed while there were reports about the deaths of several PTI supporters in a crackdown on Nov 26 to disperse the protesters converged on Red Zone.

In his meeting with diplomats, Ishaq Dar reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring the security of Islamabad’s Red Zone, reported Dawn.com. “Our priority has always been to take care of the Red Zone, which has parliament, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, key federal institutions, but most importantly, the diplomatic corps,” he said while speaking to the members of the diplomatic corps on Wednesday. “We make sure that … the Red Zone is free from any protests or violence.”

He said that to achieve this goal, the government had enacted the ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024’ that barred demonstrations in the Red Zone and mandated permission from a magistrate for any public gatherings.

“We enacted a law … that bars protest in the Red Zone. If you want to do any peaceful protest, there is a procedure. You have to apply to a district magistrate, get permission and hold your ‘peaceful rally’.”

“However, they have a history of not being peaceful,” Mr Dar added.

The foreign minister said that the Islamabad High Court had barred the PTI from holding any protest gathering in the Red Zone. Following the court ruling, the government tasked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to engage with the PTI but the efforts remained unsuccessful. “They were insistent, law or no law, we will come to the Red Zone,” he said.

He emphasised that freedom and human rights should not be exercised in ways that could endanger the lives and property of both Pakistanis and the diplomatic corps.

The FM highlighted that the government had shown restraint, as law enforcement agencies were “only equipped with water cannons and tear gas, not live ammunition”. According to Mr Dar, the police and Rangers were deployed in two tiers, with the army as a third line of defence to protect the Diplomatic Enclave, Parliament House, the Prime Minister’s House, and other important buildings.

He also informed the diplomats that PTI had chosen to hold a protest on November 24, which coincided with the planned visit of the Belarusian president. “It is surprising that a political party chooses to protest on a date when some foreign dignitaries are visiting Pakistan,” he said.

In response to the remarks made by the FM, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram lashed out at Ishaq Dar for spreading “misinformation during the presence of foreign diplomats”.

The PTI leader said that Mr Dar “falsely” stated that law enforcement agencies were not provided with live ammunition despite the fact that 12 people were allegedly martyred while several dozen sustained injuries, as a result of “direct firing”.

‘Govt, PTI to blame’

Earlier in the day, IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq expressed displeasure with both the government and the capital administration while hearing a contempt of court petition filed by traders affected by the PTI protest. The traders had approached the court after their businesses were disrupted by the protest and its aftermath. Justice Farooq criticised the federal government for its handling of the protest. “Everywhere in the media, it was said that we [government]are not giving permission on the order of the Islamabad High Court,” he said, adding that the court had clearly asked the administration to respect the fundamental rights of citizens, including the business community.

The CJ said even he had been inconvenienced by the shutdown, as the blockades hindered the movement of both the public and judges. “I myself was the victim of the situation,” he said, adding that the entire city was affected by the measures taken by the government to foil the protest. The court questioned why the authorities had gone to such lengths to stop the protest.

Justice Farooq said he would question the PTI for going ahead with the protest despite the court order but the government also needed to explain the logic of bringing the city to a standstill.

“I will ask the PTI what went wrong, but I will also ask the government why they shut everything down. What was the fault of the petitioners? Why did you close their businesses,” the CJ asked.

The court said that while protests were a constitutional right, the authorities must ensure that the fundamental rights of citizens and businesses were not violated in the process. The court made it clear that both PTI and the government had violated its orders, with PTI failing to seek the necessary permissions for the protest and the government failing to manage the situation effectively.

In a related development, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted interim bail to PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen in seven cases related to the D-Chowk protest. Judge Abul Hasanat Mohammad Zulqarnain restrained the police from arresting Mr Shaheen until further notice.

Meanwhile, anti-terrorism courts in granted three more days of physical remand for 17 individuals arrested during the recent protest at D-Chowk, while two women activists were sent to judicial custody and 12 men were remanded to jail for an identity parade in a separate case.

Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Shehzad Gondal, on the other hand, sent 37 PTI workers arrested during the protest to jail for an identity parade. These workers had been arrested in connection with two different cases registered at Ramna police station. The court has scheduled the next hearing for December 18, 2024.

Jhelum jail

Over 475 PTI protestors who were arrested from Islamabad and Rawalpindi during the November 24 protest have been shifted to the Jhelum District Jail.

Jail Superintendent Syed Hassan Mujtaba said that over 475 PTI workers had been shifted to Jhelum during the past three days and a majority of them belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the district jail had a capacity to host 588 inmates, while the strength of the inmates in the jail had reached 1,600.

Hamid Asghar in Gujar Khan and Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024