Abbasi slams new public order law

Awam Pakistan Party (APP) chief and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi fired a broadside on Wednesday against the recently passed 'Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill 2024', terming it a 'black law', worse than those enacted by the martial laws in the past.

Addressing a press conference at National Press Club in Islamabad, Abbasi said that it seemed that none of the National Assembly members or the senators actually read the law. He added that the law now left the elected representatives at the mercy of a mere SHO – police station house officer.

While commenting on rumours about a legislation to extend the tenure of the judges, Abbasi said that he expected that Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa would not accept any extension in his tenure, adding that history would remember him for it.

The former prime minister criticised the new public order act, which the government claimed, meant to empower the district magistrate to regulate and ban public gatherings in Islamabad. He said that it was unfortunate that a democratic government was making laws which were not made during martial laws.

He indicated that this law was made to target the PTI rally in Islamabad on September 8. However, he added that its consequences were much worse than that. "Isn't it a matter of shame that subject yourself to DC [deputy commissioner]," he asked.

Referring to the PTI rally on Sunday, Abbasi said that whatever happened before, during and after the rally reflected the political values of the country. "The rally took place 10 to 15 kilometers outside the city, but the whole of Islamabad was closed. What sort of democracy is this?"

He further stated that the government allowed the rally and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister delivered a speech. "There was no talk of the people in the entire rally, only abuses were hurled. If you do not condemn that, you are not doing any service to democracy," he said.