Most arrests for speech start with a phone. Protect yours first.
Lock your phone with a long PIN, not your face or fingerprint.
A finger or face can be forced onto a phone. A PIN in your head cannot. Use six digits or more.
Keep your phone and apps updated.
Most spyware gets in through holes that an update has already fixed.
Use Signal for anything about the movement.
Turn on disappearing messages in every chat, set a Registration Lock PIN, and set “Who can see my number” to Nobody so people find you by a username instead.
If you use WhatsApp, close its back door.
Chat backups to Google Drive or iCloud are not protected unless you turn on end-to-end encrypted backup. Turn that on, or turn backups off, and turn on two-step verification.
Remember that a group shows your number to everyone in it.
Keep large groups for announcements only. Plan in small groups of people you know.
Blur faces before you post a protest photo.
Signal has a blur tool built in. A picture of a crowd can be used to identify everyone in it. Take a screenshot of the photo and post that, which leaves the location data behind.
Think before you post, and know the law you face.
Posts can be prosecuted under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), including as “false information” under its 2025 amendments. Stick to what you can show to be true, and say where it came from.
If sites are blocked, use Tor Browser or Psiphon.
Tor Browser can connect through “Snowflake” bridges when Tor itself is blocked. The telecom regulator, PTA, requires VPNs to be registered and blocks others, so using one can draw attention.
Prepare for a shutdown before it happens.
Save the manifesto and this guide as PDFs now. Agree a place and time to meet with your group in case phones go dark. On Android, Briar can send messages over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with no internet at all.
احتجاج کے دوران
At a protest
Peaceful assembly is your right under Article 16. Go prepared, and never go alone.
Take with you
Your CNIC
A lawyer’s number, written on your arm in pen
Water, and a little cash
Glasses instead of contact lenses
A charged phone — or a basic phone instead of your smartphone
Go with a buddy, and tell someone outside.
Agree a check-in time with a person who is not at the protest. If you don’t check in, they call your lawyer and your family.
Your phone tells the network where you are.
If being placed at the protest is a risk for you, leave your phone at home or switch it off before you arrive. Turn off face and fingerprint unlock either way.
Stay non-violent, whatever happens.
Carry nothing that could be called a weapon. If police advance, don’t push back: keep your hands visible and move away, or sit down. A wrongful arrest is fought in court, not on the street.
If tear gas is used, move upwind and don’t rub your eyes.
Rinse with plenty of clean water.
Film the police, not the crowd.
Record from a safe distance and keep fellow protesters’ faces out of the frame.
Know what Section 144 means.
When the authorities impose Section 144, gatherings in that area are banned and joining one can lead to arrest. Organisers will tell you whether an action is going ahead — make your own choice knowing the risk.
اگر آپ گرفتار ہوں
If you are arrested
Stay calm and stay polite. Say little, sign nothing you haven’t read, and ask for your lawyer.
Ask: “Am I under arrest? On what grounds?”
You have a right to be told the grounds for your arrest.
Say: “I want to speak to my lawyer.”
Then keep saying it. You do not have to answer questions about the movement, your group or other people.
Don’t sign anything you haven’t read or don’t agree with.
A signed “confession” or undertaking can follow you for years.
Remember names, badge numbers and the place you are taken.
Your lawyer will need them.
If you are arrested
اگر آپ گرفتار ہوں
I have the right to be told why I am being arrested.مجھے گرفتاری کی وجہ بتائی جائے۔Art. 10(1)
I have the right to consult a lawyer of my choice.مجھے اپنی پسند کے وکیل سے مشورے کا حق ہے۔Art. 10(1)
I must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours.مجھے ۲۴ گھنٹے کے اندر مجسٹریٹ کے سامنے پیش کیا جائے۔Art. 10(2)
I cannot be forced to be a witness against myself.مجھے اپنے خلاف گواہی دینے پر مجبور نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔Art. 13(b)
No one may be tortured to extract evidence.ثبوت حاصل کرنے کے لیے کسی پر تشدد نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔Art. 14(2)
I am entitled to a fair trial and due process.مجھے منصفانہ سماعت اور قانونی تقاضوں کا حق ہے۔Art. 10A
My lawyer:
Call if I don’t check in:
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 · pakistanrt.com
Be aware: Article 10(3) lets these protections be set aside for people held under preventive-detention laws, such as orders under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. Those orders can still be challenged in the High Court — which is why you need a lawyer’s number with you.
اگر کسی کو اٹھا لیا جائے
If someone is taken
The first hours matter most. Write things down before you do anything else.
Write down what you saw, now.
The time and place; who took them (uniform, plain clothes, how many); vehicles and number plates; and the names and numbers of anyone else who saw it.
Call a lawyer and the family.
Agree who will speak for the family, so information doesn’t get mixed up.
Ask at the nearest police station.
Ask whether they are being held there, and ask for an FIR or a written complaint to be registered. Note who you spoke to.
Go to the High Court.
A lawyer can file a habeas corpus petition under Article 199, asking the court to order that the person be produced and the grounds for holding them be shown.
Tell the human-rights organisations below.
Give them your written notes. Cases they know about are harder to ignore.
Don’t post their name or photo until the family agrees.
Publicity can protect someone. It can also put them, or their family, at greater risk. That decision is theirs.
مدد کہاں سے لیں
Where to get help
Independent organisations that help people at risk. They are not part of this movement.