Islamabad High Court Rejects Plea to Ban PTI Protest, Issues Comprehensive Guidelines Protecting Citizens’ Rights
ISLAMABAD: A bigger bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) has dismissed a petition filed to prohibit Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from holding its planned protest on September 27, offering instead harsh rules and regulations.
This was chaired by a three-member higher bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar. The court rejected the specific prayer for a blanket ban on the demonstration but gave a comprehensive order of law for public gatherings and freedom of movement.
Key Judicial Directives and Guidelines
The detailed order clarified that no political group or party is legally able to obstruct public streets and thoroughfares or city routes. The bench has instructed the provincial chief executives to make sure that state machinery and public resources are never used during any political event. Moreover, Islamabad government has been directed to take care that the public demonstrations are not interfering with the daily life and normal activities of the public.
Before the verdict, the oral submissions and legal arguments of the advocate generals from all provinces, along with Islamabad Advocate General Naveed Hayat Malik, were finished. The Chief Secretary and Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also handed over their formal written affidavits to the bench.
Today, the Advocate General of Islamabad delivered the arguments.
At the hearings, Islamabad’s Advocate General, Naveed Hayat Malik had said the long march seemed to have two core demands, “the release of a convicted prisoner” and “a change of government” which were legally baseless. Arrivals of archival video footage, spanning from 2020 and 2024, of arson attacks and clashes by protesters during the previous PTI protests were played inside the courtroom to support administration concerns.
They are planning to march on Islamabad using all state resources, though we cannot physically stop an entire province we can apply administrative measures such as Section 144,” the Advocate General told the court. We can’t shoot our own people or take lives, but we must take preventive measures before it spirals out of control. Political grievances, he said, must be expressed through parliamentary means, like votes of no-confidence, not by street pressure.