Silencing Dissent: Section 144 clamped down across Gilgit-Baltistan

Our Correspondent

Gilgit, April 14: Hours before the beginning of the 15th of April, the day Awami Action Committee plans to hold a peaceful strike across Gilgit-Baltistan, the government has clamped section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code again across the entire region.

In a dramatic move, a couple of hours after the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court cancelled the imposition of Section 144, terming it a violation of the basic human rights, the Gilgit-Baltistan government sprang into action and clamped down the law from the British Colonial era that forbids assembly of more than four people, display of weapons, sloganeering, holding protest rallies and the use of loud speakers.

The clamping down of section 144 is being seen as an effort to fail the Awami Action Committee which has previously locked down Gilgit-Baltistan while protesting against different issues, including the withdrawal of subsidy on wheat price.

The AAC, which is a coalition of around two dozen political parties and religious and progressive groups, had threatened in the past to go ahead with the strike despite of the imposition of Section 144.

According to a press release, the government plans to take stern action against those who defy the section 144.