PHC allows PTI to hold election rallies

PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Thursday allowed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hold public meetings and rallies for the upcoming elections after fulfilling the conditions put by the respective district administrations.

A PHC division bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Shakil Ahmad, passed the orders in a writ petition filed by a PTI leader and former minister Ali Amin Gandapur and others.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Ijaz Anwar remarked that it was not a new thing in Pakistan to organise a public meeting at the residence of an absconder.

“It has become a common practice and even an absconder is now brought with protocol,” the judge said.

He asked why such restrictions were for a single political party.

Lawyers Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Inam Yousafzai, Syed Sikandar Shah, Ali Zaman and Arshad Ali represented the petitioners while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Amir Javed and Additional Advocate General Daniyal Asad Chamkani pleaded the case on behalf of the provincial government.

The petitioners had adopted the stance in the writ petition that the caretaker government had launched an unannounced crackdown on the PTI leaders and workers and the party was not being allowed to hold public meetings and rallies.

They informed the court that over 75 applications were submitted to the government authorities to seek permission for organising public meetings but all were turned down, depriving the PTI leaders of their constitutional right to hold peaceful rallies.

The AG told the court that all political parties were allowed to hold peaceful rallies and public meetings, but they would be organised with certain conditions set by the respective district administration.

Separately, in a twist of events, a delegation comprising PTI top leadership met Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday, with the approval of party Chairman Imran Khan.

For years now, Imran had targeted Fazl — and vice versa — and both are considered arch-foes. Fazl’s party was also a part of the coalition government and helped remove Imran from power last year.

Talking to journalists after the meeting in Islamabad, PTI’s senior leader Asad Qaiser said: “Everyone, including the PTI chairman, had approved of this meeting.

“Today, we came to offer our condolences over the demise of Fazl’s mother-in-law]. This is our culture. We did not discuss politics in the meeting,” said Qaiser, who is a staunch supporter of Imran and former speaker of the National Assembly.

But sources said the country’s political situation and other important matters also came under discussion during the meeting, which went on for an hour.

From PTI’s side, Qaiser, Ali Muhammad Khan, Barrister Muhammad Ali Khan Saif and Junaid Akbar participated in the meeting.

Later, the PTI leaders offered their Maghrib prayers with Maulana Fazlur Rehman acting as the Imam [prayer leader.

The development comes days after Fazl had agreed to play a leading role in national reconciliation in a bid to bring political stability to the country.