NATIONAL NEWS DESK
Islamabad: In the midst of a series of opposition rallies in Pakistan, the Islamabad administration on Friday extended the ban on all kinds of gatherings of five or more people, processions and protests at any public place in Islamabad, including the Red Zone, where important government buildings are located, for a period of two months.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Hamza Shafqaat released separate notifications in this regard on Friday, Dawn said.
According to the notice, the ban on meetings was extended in the awareness that some parts of society are preparing to organise illegal gatherings, including majlis and processions, which could disturb public peace and tranquillity and respect the existing law and order and security climate.
For a period of two months, the selling, purchase and use of firecrackers and fireworks, distribution of handbills, pamphlets, wall calking, writing slogans and affixing posters to walls were also forbidden.
According to another notice, the ban on the carrying, display and display of weapons has also been extended.
A two-month ban was also imposed on the publishing of housing schemes or on the selling of properties. The ban notification claimed that speculative transactions often arise from a situation that jeopardises people’s interest and deprives them of their hard-earned money, causing fear and anxiety in society.
Likewise, the ban also applied to the use of sound, system, CD/DVD cassette players and other media to make objectionable/sectarian-related speeches, Dawn announced.
This comes as Pakistan’s 11-party opposition alliance-Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is scheduled to stage its sixth power show in Lahore on Sunday, despite Prime Minister Imran Khan’s attempts to block the rally.
The Pakistani government also flooded the Minar-e-Pakistan lawns in a “failed effort to stop the PDM from holding their rally on 13 December.