The track record of Section 9(5) further undermines its necessity. Between 2020 and 2024, only four were charged under Section 9(5) out of 636 investigated—highlighting its limited prosecutorial value and waste of enforcement resources.

The government must not miss this critical opportunity to deliver the ‘comprehensive reform of laws related to the right to assemble’ that it has pledged to implement.

The judgement thus rightfully affirms what civil society has advocated for all along – that the right to peaceful assembly is a right and not a privilege granted at the discretion of authorities and that prior notification should serve to facilitate and not restrict the exercise of this right under Article 10(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution.