PHC issues notice to nazim, Cantonment Board CEO

Closure of roads

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued notice to the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Cantonment Board Peshawar (CBP) and district nazim in a writ filed against the barricading and closure of several roads in the cantonment and the city.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar issued the notice to official respondents, directing them to submit reply in the petition before the next hearing as why these roads were closed in the city and the cantonment.

The bench issued the notice in the writ petition filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Khursheed Khan, seeking order of the court for removing barricades and walls blocking entry to roads in the cantonment and other areas in the provincial capital.The lawyer argued that the Frontier Corps despite having huge space in the Balahisar Fort occupied the Nazar Bagh and also erected barricades on the adjacent busy road in front of the fort, creating traffic problems in the city.

He informed the bench that from a little distance from Balahisar Fort, a wall was erected on a road towards Civil Secretariat and Police Lines from the Central Prison Peshawar.The petitioner pointed out that barricades were also put up on the nearby road outside the MPAs Hostel and Governor’s House and thus half of the road was closed by the barricades.

The lawyer pointed out that another important road was also closed by erecting a wall close to the Governor’s House, Public Service Commission and Chief Minister’s House where there was tight security.He said due to the barricades and walls on roads in the name of so-called security, the general public was facing hardships in reaching certain government departments and also the city faced traffic mess.

He noted that citizens were being humiliated in the name of snap checking.The petitioner said that link roads towards the Mall Road from Qayyum Stadium Road were also being closed by walls. He pointed out that a neighbouring country’s consulate had occupied a complete road at Park Avenue and protests by the residents against it were ignored. It was submitted that the University Town Police Station also occupied and closed the service road outside the police station.

The petitioner informed that almost all link roads leading to Defence Colony were closed by walls. The senior lawyer, who also remained deputy attorney general, stated that the Lakki-Dera Ismail Khan road was opened on the orders of the PHC chief justice and thus requested the court to also issue orders to respondents to remove all the barricades and walls from the roads in Peshawar.