The Punjab, Pakistan government imposed protest restrictions on Friday citing the “law and order situation” and security threats posed by demonstrations. The order came at the time when Pakistan’s previous ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had called for a nationwide protest to release its leader and Pakistan’s ex-prime minister, Imran Khan from jail.

Section 144 of Pakistan’s Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) allows executive magistrates of any state or territory to prohibit the assembly of more than four persons in any particular area. The provision was imposed with immediate effect across the province on Friday and will continue for seven days. The order released by the Punjab government stated, as quoted by Dawn News:

It has been observed that in view of the prevailing law and order situation and security threats, any gathering/ assembly is likely to provide soft targets to terrorists and miscreants, which not only pose serious security threats but is also likely to cause threat to public at peace and order as well as inconvenience to public at large.

The province last witnessed section 144 orders during the country’s general elections in February this year.

Imran Khan has been in jail since August last year. Khan had his grift sentence in the Toshakhana corruption case suspended by the Islamabad High Court earlier this year. He is still in custody on other charges, including the cipher case, in which he stands accused of releasing state secrets, and his marriage to Bushra Khan in 2018, which allegedly violated Islamic law.

The supporters of Khan and members of PTI have called the allegations baseless and have referred to them as a conspiracy to put the ex-prime minister of the country away from politics.