PTI stages protests against proposed judicial package amid Section 144

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the major opposition party, has organized protests in several major cities against the proposed 26th constitutional amendment, coinciding with the enforcement of Section 144, which prohibits public gatherings and demonstrations in Punjab and Sindh.

In Karachi, the situation turned tense as police used tear gas and batons against PTI activists who gathered near Empress Market to protest the government’s efforts to pass the controversial judicial package. Despite several roads being closed, a group of party supporters also gathered at the Karachi Press Club.

Due to the protests, Karachi police implemented an alternative traffic plan, closing major routes including those from Sharea Faisal’s FTC bridge to Metropole and from the Coast Guard Office to Karachi Press Club. DIG South Asad Raza announced the deployment of 1,200 police officers in the city’s Red Zone amid the protests.

Karachi’s administration has extended Section 144 for an additional two days, until October 19, while the Punjab government has imposed the same restrictions in the province and declared a holiday for all private and public educational institutions.

In Islamabad, authorities heightened security measures and opened only one lane on the main road connecting Islamabad and Rawalpindi, while the other lane was made accessible to general traffic. In Rawalpindi, a flag march was conducted by police, including elite forces, with over 3,000 officials deployed across the city. Some PTI workers were arrested in various locations, including three women in Lahore and ten activists in Rawalpindi’s Dhoke Khabba.

PTI supporters also protested outside the press club in Peshawar, demanding an end to the alleged mistreatment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned by the current government. In Gujranwala, the PTI lawyer forum staged a protest against the proposed judicial package outside a district court, while in Faisalabad, police blocked access to eight central markets using trucks, causing significant traffic disruptions.

In Sahiwal, police arrested PTI’s former MPA Rana Aftab and nine others for violating Section 144 during a protest at Bhandari Chowk. The PTI had previously called for nationwide protests against the proposed constitutional amendments and the imprisonment of its founder, Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated for over a year. The party’s political committee stated its determination to obstruct the passage of the constitutional amendments in parliament, which aim to establish a federal constitutional court and set the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s tenure at three years.