"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.