Civil society deplores ICT law curbing right to peaceful assembly

Islamabad:At an advocacy meeting held on Thursday, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) deplored the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024 as a ‘draconian’ law.

HRCP secretary-general Harris Khalique pointed out that domestic laws curbing freedom of peaceful assembly contravened not only Articles 8 and 16 of the Constitution, but also Pakistan’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Lawyer Asfand Yar Warraich, who was commissioned by HRCP to assess the law from a rights perspective, explained that it had crippled freedom of peaceful assembly by relegating assemblies to designated areas out of reach of their intended audience and barring spontaneous assemblies through an onerous permission regime.

Most alarmingly, he said, the law had imposed harsh penalties on participants of ‘unlawful’ assemblies and set forth no clear criteria for dispersal by force. Journalist Hamid Mir observed that such laws had been used disproportionately against Baloch rights activists despite court orders to the contrary.

Islamabad Police AIG Tahir Kazim argued that the law in question reflected ‘reasonable restrictions’ on citizens’ right to assemble peacefully but agreed that such laws should not be ‘misused’.

NCHR representative Imtiaz Ali observed that while the law was being used to contain the government’s political rivals, it had serious implications for all citizens’ right to peaceful assembly. Digital reporter Asad Ali Toor noted that the law was especially detrimental to marginalized groups.

Journalist Matiullah Jan urged political parties to take a stand against laws that infringed on people’s fundamental rights. Members of civil society strongly criticised the state for applying ‘double standards’ by ceding space to violent mobs associated with the far right, while clamping down on peaceful protests organised by ordinary citizens demanding their constitutionally guaranteed rights. Concluding the session, HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar observed that it was critical to strike a balance between the need for public order and the right of all people to assemble peacefully. He also pointed out that the law in question had been passed in undue haste and without parliamentary deliberation, adding that unless people were able to address legislators directly through peaceful assemblies, they could not hope to resolve their concerns democratically.