Rawalpindi, Pakistan: The Rawalpindi district administration has put Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) into effect. This means that from August 4 to August 10, all public gatherings, rallies, and protests are banned. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party called for protests across the country to celebrate the second anniversary of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s incarceration.
Senior Superintendent of Adiala Jail Abdul Ghafoor Anjum has asked for more security at the jail since he thinks there would be big protests. He wrote to the City Police Officer and said that the prison was very sensitive because it housed political prisoners and terrorists. He also said that a protest was planned for August 5. There are currently 7,700 detainees in the facility, which can hold just over 2,000. This makes security even more of a worry. The letter asked for more police officers, obstacles, and surveillance to be put in place.
PTI leaders, like Asad Qaiser, called for protests. They promised to take to the streets all throughout Pakistan to demand Khan’s release and attract attention to the country’s economic problems. The government’s choice to use Section 144 is a transparent attempt to stop the planned protests before they happen.
This new political tension comes after a time when the government was cracking down harder on PTI members. Many party officials and workers went to jail because of the violent protests that broke out after Khan’s first detention in 2023.