Rawalpindi Police have registered an FIR against over 150 people – all belonging to the political parties that are part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – for violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for coronavirus.
The authorities registered the case on Sunday in the wake of a protest rally that started from Rawalpindi’s Jamia Islamia. More than 150 people reportedly participated in the protest.
The police filed the FIR on the complaint of Hamid Mahmood, a sanitary health inspector of the Rawalpindi Health Department. According to the FIR, the rally was organized in violation of coronavirus SOPs and might result in spreading the contagious disease.
Twelve people were directly nominated in the FIR including JUI-F Rawalpindi chief Dr Zia-ur-Rehman Amazai and PML-N's divisional and metropolitan presidents Malik Abrar and Sardar Naseem.
The other accused included Mufti Musarat Iqbal, Qari Arshad Abbasi, Rashid Khan, Maqbool Ahmad Khan, Haji Pervez, Malik Iftikhar, Umar Farooq, Qais Malik and Shaukat Butt.
Commenting on the FIR, Zia-ur-Rehman said the government is flustered by the PDM’s December 13 rally in Lahore. “We strongly condemn the government for registering cases and using coercive tactics to suppress the PDM,” he said.
According to sources, the PTI led Punjab government has started a crackdown against the parties that are part of the PDM ahead of the opposition alliance’s December 13 Lahore show.
The PDM, a newly cobbled alliance formed with the avowed aim to dislodge the PTI led federal government, has held a number of rallies across Pakistan in the last two months.
The PDM is going to hold a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore despite a refusal by the district administration to grant permission. The PDM has already defied the official orders twice by holding rallies in Peshawar and Multan respectively on November 22 and December 1.
Last week, PML-N Punjab chapter president Rana Sanaullah had announced that the PDM will hold the "rally as per schedule at the Greater Iqbal Park, come what may".
Commenting on the PDM’s December 13 rally, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said his government will not stop the opposition from holding public rallies but will register cases against the organizers for violating a ban imposed in view of the second coronavirus wave.
"Our government will register FIRs against everyone from the kursi wala [providers of rental chairs] to the sound system handlers but we will not stop the opposition leaders from going to rally venues."
The premier pledged that the government will not stop the rally through forceful means. “We will not create hurdles so that they may not have a chance to portray themselves as revolutionaries.”
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