A FAMOUS legal lacuna about the announcement and writing of the capital punishment by hanging of a culprit is often said to have been modified merely to add `till death` for proper execution of the sentence.
The constitutional `right to peaceful protest` among other fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of Pakistan by the 1973 Constitution deserves a similar modification. In its current form, it is an analogous, partially understood legislative hitch that affects the rights of the non-protesters.
Often exercised by the political parties, this right needs to be elaborated by way of an amendment that should bind the protesting political party, a group, an association or an individual to ensure that during their protest demonstration, the rights of each one of the non-participant citizens to peaceful surroundings free of loud rumpus, sloganeering and shouting will remain intact.
Their right to freely available means to move around and commute in the form of open roads accessible to all kinds of transport, and to an atmosphere and environment free of smoke and tear gas and litter and rubble, and to a milieu of peace and harmony free of any fear or danger will be preserved and well taken care of. The rights of non-protesters must not be violated during any `peaceful` protest. Any failure to ensure that mandate should be equally punishable as any other violation of the law of the land.
