Court orders FIR against law minister for breaking the law

An additional district and sessions judge (AD&SJ) on Saturday directed Civil Lines Police station house officer (SHO) to register an FIR against Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and other PML-N leaders for taking out a rally on The Mall in violation of Section 144 that banned protests on the main artery of the city. AD&SJ Abdur Rahim passed the order on an application filed by Munir Ahmed through his counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique advocate, challenging the sheer violation of the ban on holding rallies on The Mall. The petitioner counsel pleaded that the Punjab government had imposed Section 144 on The Mall and holding a public rally was prohibited, but the PML-N leadership led by Rana Sanaullah took out a rally on The Mall on March 29. The counsel said the law minister and others violated Section 144 by organising a protest rally, therefore, an FIR should be registered against Rana Sanaullah, Ch Abdul Ghafoor Rana, Nouman Ijaz and other MPAs whose photographs were published in newspapers the next day. The advocate said a few days ago, the Civil Lines SHO registered an FIR against activists of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek-e-Insaaf under Section 144 and 16 MPO when they took out a rally on The Mall, but only two days earlier, the PML-N had rallied on The Mall but no case was registered against them. The counsel drew the attention of the court to the discrimination, stating that “it is shameful that if private people take out a rally on The Mall they are subjected to torture by police, but the ruling party activists are spared”. He requested the court to pass directions to the CCPO and SHOs of Civil Lines and Qilla Gujjar Singh to register an FIR against PML-N leaders who violated the law.