Zubair Qureshi
The federal government and its agencies failed yet again to establish the writ of the state as the workers of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) ridiculed all the organs of the state for one whole week (July 12-19, 2024) and literally held the people of the twin cities hostage by blocking the main artery connecting Islamabad with Rawalpindi at the main interchange Faizabad.
Held in the name of ‘Palestine’ and ‘Jihad-e-Palestine’ the infamous sit-in by the TLP was not only in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s directions, it also obstructed the citizens’ constitutional right of free movement.
Among those who suffered included students, daily wage workers, traders, office-workers, sick people, the general public, etc. They could not travel between the twin cities and were simply at the mercy of the marchers.
It may be mentioned here that in 2018, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Musheer Alam in an historic judgment had made it clear that each citizen and political party retained the right to peaceful assembly and protest, as long as it complies with the “reasonable” legal restrictions “in the interest of public order.”
“The right to assembly and protest is circumscribed only to the extent that it infringes on the fundamental rights of others, including their right to free movement and to hold and enjoy property,” the apex court had ruled.
The court had also asserted that “protesters who obstruct people’s right to use roads and damage or destroy property must be proceeded against in accordance with the law and held accountable.”
The Supreme Court’s decision was given in the backdrop of the 2017 sit-in by the same TLP and it was supposed that after the ‘landmark’ judgment the police and the law enforcing agencies of the federal capital and the Punjab government would not let any political or religious party hold any protest that could disturb normal life but the TLP in complete defiance returned after seven years and staged the sit-in at the same place.
While talking to Pakistan Observer, workers of the Municipal Directorate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said it would take almost one month to completely restore normal life and routine activity since the departure of TLP marchers on July 19. However, the damage to the fauna and flora and the green character of Islamabad is enormous. The TLP marchers chopped off the nearby trees and burnt their branches to cook their food. Some of the trees were rare species and it would take months and years to bring those plants and plants along the road, said a senior official of the Directorate of Environment.
Likewise, the damage to the green belts has also been enormous as the mob of the TLP slept in camps erected right in the middle of the green belts.
Apart from those entrusted with the beauty and beautification of the city, the general public, the daily wagers and the students who complained of the government’s apathy towards their suffering.
