Arrested PTI workers took law into their hands, centre tells PHC

PESHAWAR: The federal government explained to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday that workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were arrested in October for taking the law into their own hands and attempting to lock down the federal capital in violation of a court order.

The centre submitted a written response to a notice the high court issued in January based on Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai’s petition. The K-P ministers’ petition, filed last December, had requested the PHC to declare the baton charging of party workers and registration of FIRs against them in various police stations in Islamabad and Punjab illegal. The workers had been marching toward Islamabad from Swabi interchange in October last year demanding that the federal government come clean on the Panamagate scandal when Punjab police baton charged them and arrested them.

The federal government in its reply said that the leadership of the petitioners’ party (PTI) was told to stage their scheduled protest at Shakarparian ground because at that time Section 144 was in place which bans the assembly of five and more than five persons.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on October 31, 2016 passed a detailed judgment in which it allowed the petitioners’ party to carry out their peaceful demonstration at a specific place duly notified by competent authority, the response stated.

“The IHC also refrained the petitioners’ party from locking down the federal capital,” it said, adding that instead of complying, the petitioners’ leadership provoked their followers to lock down the capital which was illegal and a violation of court orders.

The federal government further said despite the IHC’s orders, the district administration and Islamabad police received reports that a gathering of PTI workers were planning to lock down the city.

“The police had advised PTI workers to disperse but they refused to obey and started resisting which resulted in arrests,” it stated. It went on to add that arrests were made after workers armed with sticks had taken the law into their own hands and had clashed with police.

“Besides four cases were registered under arms ordinance where two Kalashnikovs, one teargas gun, its shells, 15 rounds of 9MM pistols, two bullet proof jackets, 289 rounds and a bottle of liquor was recovered from a vehicle of K-P assembly member Ali Amin Gandapur,” it stated.

Around 19 criminal cases were registered against 323 violators from the jurisdictions of different police stations and they have been facing trials.

The government also mentioned PTI workers’ clashes with Islamabad Capital Territory police during a sit-in with Pakistan Awami Tehreek at D-Chowk, attack on parliament and Pakistan Television, ransacking in PTI’s 2014 long march where the government registered around 90 criminal cases.

The federal government requested the PHC to dismiss the petition because it did not fall under its jurisdiction.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi directed the petitioners – Khattak and Tarakai – to file a rejoinder and adjourned the case till May 15

Source: The Express Tribune