Courts release detained activists

RAWALPINDI:

The civil judges of the Rawalpindi district courts Sunday acquitted all 27 activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) arrested for violating Section 144 in election rallies in Rawalpindi.

The PTI workers were tied with ropes and produced in the court. The civil judges released the workers and allowed them to go home. As soon as the workers were released, they started chanting slogans in the premises of the courts.

National Assembly candidate Semabia Tahir Satti also reached the court to express solidarity with the workers and encouraged the workers by going to all the relevant courts. Insaf Lawyers Wing team comprising Rizwan Akhtar, Faisal Malik, Husnain and Chaudhary Asad Rafique advocates pursued the cases of arrested workers and said that general elections are going to be held in the country and arresting the political workers was a violation of their basic. All parties have rights to hold rally, they contended in the courts.

Read: Crackdown on PTI rallies amid election trail

“The PTI took out a rally according to the law and constitution. In the PTI rally, no worker even had a baton. The police attacked the peaceful rallies in Sadiqabad, Waris Khan, Jatli, Chontra and across the city and arrested the activists,” the PTI counsels argued.

The police registered cases against PTI workers under section 144. PTI lawyers requested the court to discharge the arrested workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2024.