Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 16,17,19

Constitution of Pakistan --- ----Arts. 16, 17 & 19---Right to peaceful sit-in protest---Scope and restrictions---Maintenance of public order during protests---State functionaries, duty of---Constitutional petition seeking a direction from the (High) Court to restrain a political party from holding a protest march/sit-in in the capital city---Held, that peaceful protest by unarmed persons was a constitutionally protected right---Said right stemmed from the fundamental rights of freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of speech/expression, which were guaranteed under Arts.16, 17 & 19 of the Constitution, respectively---No law-abiding citizen could, therefore, be denied the right of peaceful protest, however, correspondingly the peaceful protesters could not be allowed to infringe the fundamental rights of other citizens---Right to protest was indeed not an absolute right but it was subject to reasonable restrictions---Law enforcing authorities had the responsibility to consider several factors while imposing restrictions or conditions for the purposes of regulating a peaceful protest so that the rights of other citizens also remained protected---In such regard authorities may impose restrictions regarding route or venue or impose any other condition having regard to maintaining public order and protecting the rights of other citizens---Only in extraordinary and exceptional circumstances could the State restrain a person from exercising his or her right to protest on the ground of national security---Organizers of a protest and its participants were also under an obligation to remain peaceful, unarmed and to strictly comply with the reasonable restrictions and conditions imposed by the competent authorities---Maintaining public order was a crucial responsibility of the State and its functionaries, thus, they could not be dictated by the Court as to what measures they were required to take in this regard or how protest rally/sit-in was to be regulated---Such matters were within the exclusive domain of the executive authorities and no direction could be given by the Court---Constitutional petitions were disposed of by the High Court with the…

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