"Humaray Khadshat Hen Kay Yeh Bill PTI Kay Liye Laya Gaya Hai", Barrister Ali Zafar

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00:00But now let's come to the second law, the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill 2024.

00:06Pakistan Tariq-e-Insaaf is completely contradicting the law.

00:11And if you look at the law, every Pakistani is given the right to assembly.

00:15But with the right to assembly, certain responsibilities also come.

00:19The law should not be taken in hand, the government should not be intervened in,

00:25the public property should not be harmed in any way.

00:29So if you look at it from both the angles, responsibility and rights,

00:36then where do you see this bill?

00:39Look, where you said this, I agree 100% with you.

00:44I also believe that every fundamental right also comes with a fundamental responsibility.

00:49That is, if you look at freedom of speech, I have the freedom to say whatever I want,

00:54but I do not have the freedom to defame anyone or abuse anyone.

00:59That becomes a restriction. Similarly, there is a restriction to assembly.

01:02It is not possible that I break it and say that I have freedom, I am a freedom,

01:07I can hold a meeting wherever I want, I can break it.

01:11So this is absolutely correct.

01:13But in this law, a little different, the first thing is that this law was being brought

01:18only and only PTI specific.

01:20That is, there were complaints in it that we will give you permission,

01:25but we have the right to take permission back from the convention 10 minutes before.

01:29If you still hold a convention, we will give you three years of punishment.

01:33We have seen in the past that we were given NOC and at the last minute that NOC was given back

01:40and we had to end our convention.

01:46Now it is that at the last minute, still by law,

01:50they can say that we have cancelled your convention, NOC.

01:56We have a threat.

01:58Some kind of threat may or may not be there.

02:01This is your reason that a lot of people are looking at it PTI specific.

02:05But how is this PTI specific?

02:07All the people who will be there, all the parties,

02:10whether they are religious or political parties, it will be applied to everyone.

02:15If tomorrow a religious party comes up and tries to break it,

02:19as it happened in the time of PTI, a ban was imposed on TLP.

02:23If they do the same tomorrow, won't there be a divorce on them too?

02:27Yes, absolutely.

02:28Tomorrow, when the government is in opposition, it can happen on them too.

02:32But for now, it has been brought in such an emergency,

02:36it has been brought in such an emergency that it is being tried to pass it in two days.

02:42So it can be seen that for now, there is only one party that is afraid of conventions,

02:49and that is PTI.

02:50That is why we say that PTI is specific.

02:53The problem is, the law should be that you definitely say in the law

02:59that you will take permission to have a convention somewhere,

03:03but in the law, it should also be that the government will facilitate you,

03:08it will cooperate with you in a way that you have a convention,

03:13and if you make a mistake in the convention,

03:16then you will be charged and action will be taken against you.

03:21Not that your NOC will be formed in a way that the government can control and say.

03:28So in other words, it should not be pre-emptive,

03:30no action should be taken on the basis of this NOC,

03:33when the crime is committed, then action should be taken.

03:36So Barrister, on this, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,

03:40is there a chance that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will also support it by changing something in it?

03:46That if it is changed so that one, the party is not specific,

03:50second, pre-emptive measures should not be taken,

03:52until the crime is not committed, action should not be taken.

03:54If such changes come, can PTI support it?

03:58Absolutely. I personally am making amendments to it,

04:05I am looking at it, and I think if we really want to make it a genuine law of the nation,

04:15to serve the nation, for the benefit of the nation,

04:19then it needs to be made a balanced law.

04:24And for that, it will be necessary for us to make a balanced law,

04:28so that it cannot be used against freedom of expression,

04:34against the freedom of assembly,

04:38or to impose a censorship on it.

04:41Rather, it should be used for the genuine benefit of the nation.

04:45It can be balanced, it is not difficult to make a law,

04:48if your intention is clear and genuine.

04:51If you want to ban it, you don't want to let any party hold a meeting,

04:56then the law becomes wrong.

04:59Right, Barrister Ali Zafar was with us. Thank you very much.

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