The city’s deputy commissioner was asked by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday to respond to a PTI appeal for authorization to host a public protest at Minar-i-Pakistan on February 8.
In protest of its “stolen mandate” in the general elections held last year, which were dominated by independent candidates the party sponsored, the opposition PTI has planned to hold a “black day” on Saturday, February 8.
On January 29, Malik, the PTI’s recently hired top organizer for Punjab, applied to Lahore DC Syed Musa Raza for permission to hold the event. But after not hearing back, she went to the LHC yesterday to request permission for the event.
Justice Farooq Haider, who presided over the hearing today, instructed DC Raza to make an in-person appearance on February 6.
Other respondents mentioned in the appeal, including the state, the Punjab government, and the commissioner, DC, and additional DC of Lahore, were also asked to respond by the judge.
Malik told reporters in Lahore today that February 8 was “Pakistan’s day, not the PTI’s.”
Malik called on people to come to the protest event on Saturday, claiming that her party’s leaders and members had been subjected to “oppression” for the previous two years.
“On February 8, 2024, no segment [of the society] was spared from dacoity,” she stated, alluding to the elections where the PTI claims its mandate was “stolen.”
Malik emphasized that former Premier Imran Khan and his spouse were incarcerated and that the sisters of the PTI founders were appearing in court on a number of issues.
“We have the right to peaceful protest,”
In an interview with the media yesterday, Malik stated that the party will reveal its “plan B” if authorization for the Minar-i-Pakistan demonstration was denied.
The PTI, which is in control in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district, has also organized a protest demonstration for February 8.
To commemorate the event, the party will give Rs50 million in development grants to the local councils and Rs200,000 to each PTI employee who was just found guilty of the May 9, 2023 riots by military courts.
Additionally, Malik had petitioned the court to order the government to allow the rally and to prevent law enforcement from harassing and kidnapping PTI employees and conducting searches to arrest them.
She had called it “strange” that security concerns were brought up whenever the PTI asked for permission to hold a public assembly, claiming that this was a ruse to refuse permission. In addition, the PTI leader claimed that she was being intimidated and threatened with having the request withdrawn.
According to the application, MPA Sheikh Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Ijaz Buttar, Malik, and Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Malik Ahmad Bachhar would be in charge of the power show.
“In addition to calling our poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz traitors, we have also accused political activists of terrorism, hanged our elected popular prime minister, and after about 50 years of his hanging, we saw a ruling stating that he was not given a fair trial,” the petition stated.
“With a change of time we have seen change of hearts and the same judgment being reversed by way of their acquittal,” the plea said, recalling that parliamentarians and prime ministers had previously been “put to trial in false and frivolous cases.”
