LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to submit a request to the city’s deputy commissioner (DC) for holding the rally in the provincial capital while ordering the latter to decide on it by 5pm today.
The directives came during a hearing on the plea seeking permission for holding a PTI rally at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan monument.
Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadeem and Justice Farooq Haider heard the plea filed by PTI leaders Aliya Hamza and Sheikh Imtiaz Mehmood
The petitioners had moved the court earlier this week saying that the party had repeatedly been denied permission to hold rallies in Lahore on political grounds.
The Imran Khan-founded party has been trying to hold rallies across the country for months but had been repeatedly denied permission by authorities citing security issues and other reasons.
Although they managed to hold a public gathering on September 8 in Sangjani, Islamabad. The power show was soon followed by a crackdown against party leaders — some of who were even allegedly “picked” from within the parliament’s premises — for allegedly breaching the no objection certificate (NOC) issued by the administration as well as the “Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024” — a law which came into effect just a day ahead of the rally.
Meanwhile, party founder and former prime minister Khan has termed the rally, slated for tomorrow, a “do-or-die” situation saying that the country’s Constitution provisions the right to assemble.
