PESHAWAR, Oct 11: The crisis emerging in the wake of US attacks against Afghanistan has put the district Nazims, mostly affiliated with political parties, in an awkward position as far as imposing a ban on public gatherings is concerned.
In some of the cases, section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, through which gathering and processions have been banned across the province, were imposed by the Nazims who were in the past known for violating the same section while they were part and parcel of their respective political parties.
Interestingly, in Peshawar it is yet not clear as to who has imposed section 144 of CrPC here. The district Nazim, Azam Afridi, a staunch supporter and key leader of PPP till recent past, has expressed his ignorance about the said section.
Similarly, Senior Superintendent of Police, Dr Suleman has claimed that he received orders from the government on the night of Oct 7 about imposition of section 144, but he was not sure who had imposed it.
Under the amendments to the CrPC by the present government, only the district Nazim is empowered to impose the section. Previously, under section 144 of the CrPC, dealing with power to issue order absolute at once in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger, the district magistrate, sub divisional magistrate, or any other magistrate specially empowered by the provincial government or the district magistrate, were empowered to issue orders.
On Aug 14, the President of Pakistan promulgated the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 2001, through which the district Nazim was empowered to impose the said section on written recommendation of the district superintendent of police or executive district officer.
An activist of a political party informed that in some of the cases the imposition of ban on public gatherings was very astonishing as the district Nazims belonged to Jamaat-i-Islami, PPP and other political parties.
He cited the example of Lower Dir where Dr Yaqoob, a former provincial parliamentary leader of JI, has imposed section 144, saying that on one hand his party has been asking people to participate in the protest and on the other he had been stopping them from doing so.
It is learnt that on the directives of the provincial government almost all the Nazims have imposed section 144 in their respective districts so as to quell the protest demos.
