Lahore’s Shahdara police on Tuesday registered a case against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, her husband Captain (r) Safdar and other party leaders and workers for damaging public order by ‘causing trouble for citizens, blocking roads, unnecessarily using loudspeakers and microphones and violating coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs)’ in the run up to the October 16 rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Gujranwala.
The PML-N leaders have been booked for violating the Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Act 2015 and Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960. The FIR states that the Shahdara Chowk was blocked by containers without the permission, which affected the flow of traffic resulting in citizens being stranded on the road for hours.
Besides PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Captain (r) Safdar, Malik Riaz, Samiullah Khan, Malik Pervez and Ali Pervez Malik have been nominated in the FIR. The case has also been registered against Bilal Yasin, Samiullah Khan, Saif-ul-Muluk Khokhar and some 2,000 to 2,200 unidentified people.
The FIR also stated that despite multiple threat advisories issued by security agencies to the PML-N leadership, party vice-president Maryam Nawaz came out of her car and addressed workers. “Maryam then ignored security SOPs and addressed the workers, exposing herself and putting her life in danger. In this way, Maryam, Safdar and other leaders and workers collectively violated the law by sloganeering against the government, causing trouble for citizens, violated SOPs by not maintaining social distancing, blocking roads and [through] unnecessary use of loudspeakers and microphones.” According to the FIR, none of the leaders or workers were wearing a mask or maintaining social distancing.
The FIR further added that Maryam, in her address, asked party workers and leaders to “be ready to send Imran Khan’s government home”, adding that it incited them and they started “extreme sloganeering against the government”.
