Karachi police recommend imposition of Section 144 till March 31 – Pakistan

The Karachi police have recommended to the city commissioner to impose section 144 in the city’s South district to owing to the law and order situation in the city, it emerged on Monday.

The recommendation was made by Karachi South Zone Deputy Inspector General of Police Syed Asad Raza to the commissioner on Sunday, a day ahead of a protest call by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) for March 24 at the Karachi Press Club against the “illegal detention” of key BYC leaders Dr Mahrang Baloch and Bebarg Baloch.

The notification read that “in the context of [the] present law and order situation in the city, it is required that [the] ban may be imposed in South Zone on protests, demonstrations, sit-ins and rallies” being held on major roads, which has resulted in traffic jams and is “posing grave security threats”.

The notification further said that in view of the prevailing law and order situation “it is essential that necessary measures be taken to protect the participants, the public and the integrity of the event.

“It is therefore requested that [a] ban on any type of protest, demonstrations, sit-in rallies and assembly of more than five persons may kindly be imposed within the limits of South Zone under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code from March 24 to 31, 2025.”

According to a post on X, the protest in Karachi is scheduled for 4pm and is being organised in collaboration with civil society members, while a protest in Quetta is scheduled for noon.

The BYC’s chief organiser and 16 other activists were arrested from their protest camp at Quetta’s Sariab Road on Saturday as police continued to crackdown on its sit-in against alleged enforced disappearances.