ISLAMABAD
\nThe Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the attorney general, inspectors general of police and advocate generals of all four provinces on a petition challenging the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf\u2019s (PTI) planned nationwide protests and September 27 long march on Islamabad.
\nThe major opposition party has announced a nationwide protests and, long march towards Islamabad on September 27 to demand release of jailed party founder Imran Khan.
\nIHC Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar heard a petition filed by citizen Waqas Ahmed and directed the respondents to appear in their personal capacities. The court also decided to constitute a larger bench to hear the matter.
\nDuring the hearing, the petitioner\u2019s counsel said he was a trader doing business in Islamabad and was affected because the planned protest was intended to be brought to the capital.
\nReferring to statements by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, the lawyer said several matters involving the party\u2019s leaders were already pending before courts and should be dealt with according to law. \u201cIf their argument is accepted, people across Pakistan whose cases are pending should also take to the streets,\u201d the counsel said. He questioned whether there was a plan to attack Rawalpindi\u2019s Adiala jail, referring to the previous attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ), and asked how the country\u2019s system could function if such actions continued.
\nThe counsel described the proposed protest as \u201ccompletely illegal\u201d, claiming previous demonstrations by the party had caused casualties and financial losses.
\nHe said three Rangers personnel lost their lives during a previous protest and cited media reports putting the financial loss from the last demonstration at Rs240 million.
\nThe petition\u2019s counsel argued that the protests were aimed at exerting pressure on the government to secure relief in pending cases, stressing that the Constitution guaranteed judicial independence.
\n\u201cCan the government direct courts to suspend sentences in appeals if two million people are brought to Islamabad?\u201d he asked.
\nThe chief justice asked whether the protesters would arrive alongside the KP chief minister and government machinery.
\nThe counsel replied in the affirmative and presented a November 21, 2024 letter from the Ministry of Interior.
\nHe claimed government machinery was used during the PTI\u2019s 2024 protest despite the Interior Ministry\u2019s instructions, and said no application had so far been submitted to the Islamabad district magistrate for the planned demonstration.
\nThe lawyer also referred to the \u00a3190 million case and other pending proceedings, arguing that the court had repeatedly asked for arguments on an appeal but they had not been presented.
\nHe questioned whether street protests could be used to pressure courts, arguing that guidelines could be issued for demonstrations but should not facilitate individuals involved in criminal cases.
\nThe court issued notices to the attorney general, the four provincial inspector generals (IGs) and advocate generals, summoning them in their personal capacities. It also decided to constitute a larger bench to hear the matter.
\nThe IHC adjourned further hearing until September 10.
\nThe development came after KP CM Afridi recently led the party\u2019s five-day mobilisation campaign across Sindh to build support for its demands, including the release of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan and his immediate medical treatment.
\nEx-PM Imran, 73, has been in prison since August 2023 following convictions he and his party have described as politically motivated.
\nSince his ouster in April 2022, he has faced multiple cases, while some convictions were suspended or overturned and several appeals remained pending.=DNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the attorney general, inspectors general of police and advocate generals of all four provinces on a petition challenging the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf\u2019s (PTI) planned nationwide protests and September 27 long march on Islamabad. The major opposition party has announced a nationwide protests and, long march …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":59494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102778,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102760\/revisions\/102778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}