MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kas­hmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Tuesday suspen­ded the enforcement of ‘Pea­ceful Assembly and Public Order Ordinance, 2024’, while admitting two appeals against a high court ruling that had upheld the contentious law.

The ordinance was originally challenged in the AJK high court by three members of the Central Bar Association, Muzaffar­abad, and the AJK Bar Council.

However, the high court dismissed the petitions in limine, prompting both parties to file petitions for leave to appeal in the SC to get the high court ruling overturned.

Representing both parties, senior lawyers Raja Sajjad Ahmed and Raja Amjad Ali Khan alleged that the high court had disregarded critical points raised in the petitions questioning the legality of the ordinance.

They contended the legislature was not vested with powers to deprive the state subjects of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the AJK’s interim constitution and therefore the impugned ordinance amounted to violating the Constitution.

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Furthermore, they maintained that existing laws were sufficient to regulate the exercise of these rights, making the new ordinance unnecessary and excessive.

Led by AJK Chief Jus­tice Raja Saeed Akram, the SC full bench granted interim relief by suspending the ordinance until the disposal of the case.

Converting both leave to appeals into regular appeals, the SC clubbed them together to be heard as a single regular case and announced that a detailed judgement would follow after comprehensive hearings.

Strike call unchanged

The suspension of the ordinance came less than 48 hours before a state-wide strike planned by the Jammu & Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JKJAAC), a coalition of civil society organisations, primarily representing traders.

Shaukat Nawaz Mir, a core committee member of the JKJAAC, welcomed the SC intervention, but announced that the strike would proceed unless the government formally repealed the ordinance and released activists detained for opposing it.

“The ordinance was a targeted move to suppress the JKJAAC,” he claimed. “We were not a party to the court petitions against it, nor has the Supreme Court restricted us from protesting. This time, an even larger number of people will take to the streets,” he said.

The committee and other civil society groups hold the view that the ordinance infringes on the people’s constitutional right to peaceful assembly and expression, raising questions about the balance between maintaining public order and safeguarding civil liberties in the liberated territory.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024