The top court order

The Supreme Court has issued a strongly-worded order in the case relating to the TLP’s sit-in at the Faizabad interchange in Islamabad in November 2017 against change to the Elections Act, 2017. The change in a phrase on a form concerning the Finality of Prophethood, which is submitted at the time of election by candidates and is considered as an oath, turned into a religo-political controversy which only ended after a 20-day-long sit-in succeeded in forcing the then law minister, thought to be behind the change, to tender his resignation. The top court had taken a suo-motu notice of the TLP protest that paralysed life in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The court had reserved judgment on November 22, 2018 which was announced the day before yesterday.

The Supreme Court order in the Faizabad sit-in case serves as a comprehensive document that points out flaws in the strategy to deal with the protest and draws up guidelines to tackle any such happening in the future. The success of the Faizabad protest was a collective failure of the state institutions, and the Supreme Court order has found fault with all — the government, the media, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, intelligence agencies, the forces, and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Protest for demanding rights is a frequent activity in our country. We have seen teachers blocking a road to press for their demands affecting traffic flow; we have seen doctors shutting hospitals in protest against meagre salaries, at times even costing precious lives; and we have seen political parties hitting the streets in the name of democracy or for the sake of people’s rights — taking the rights of others for granted, in all such cases. The SC order makes it clear that every citizen and political party has the right to assemble and protest so long as they are peaceful and do not infringe on the fundamental rights of others.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2019.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.