Traders to move court against PAT protest on The Mall

LAHORE: Traders of Lahore on Monday said that if Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chairman Thair-ul-Qadri had sought their support for Qisas (revenge) of the Model Town killings, they could have supported him but closing business and trade and making the life of the common people miserable by sit-ins and blocking The Mall was not right.

Addressing an press conference, representatives of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (Naeem Mir and Ashraf Bhatti Groups) and trader leaders of different markets said that protest was the constitutional right of every Pakistani, however, it was also the right of traders to do their business in a peaceful environment. "This is the government's responsibility to ensure an enabling environment for businesses," they added.

In view of Article 18 of the Constitution, every citizen has equal rights of freedom of trade and business and creating disturbance and hurdles to their business activities was a crime, they quoted.

The press conference was addressed by Mian Waqar, Naeem Mir, Ashraf Bhatti, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh and others. The traders also announced moving a petition in Lahore High Court on January 16 ( today) against the Punjab government, making the Punjab chief secretary, CCPO, DCO, commissioner and CTO a party, to stop Qadri from committing the contempt of court by holding a protest rally on The Mall, which was banned by the court.

They also requested the PEMRA and all media groups and organisations to stop the coverage of the protest due the PAT chief's contempt. They appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the contempt, giving direction to the LHC to accept their petition immediately and pass the decision the same day, so that the order of ban could be implemented on January 17 properly.

They mentioned that a petition had been moved by a citizen against the protest but the court issued notices for hearing on January 20. “What is the benefit of accepting the petition when the decision is not made before Jan 17?,” they asked.

In November 2011, Lahore High Court Justice Ijaz Chaudhry had imposed a ban on all kinds of protest and rallies on The Mall on the petition of All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran. Later, on a petition against government’s failure to stop protest rallies, the court also issued notices to the Punjab police chief and the home secretary, asking them to ensure implementation of the order and allocate alternate locations for rallies. On the order of LHC, The Mall was declared as red zone from the Mian Mir bridge to PMG crossing.

They stated that Thair-ul-Qadri had announced the protest plan from January 17 (Wednesday), which could close all trade and business activities in the surrounding markets, Beadon Road, Hall Road, MCleod Road and Panorama Centre etc while the closure of GPO Chowk had already affected the business due to orange line train work.

It will cause billion of rupees loss besides over 100,000 people would be adversely affected, they added. They said protests on busy roads like The Mall not only hampered traffic but also restricted the movement of people and affected business activity, which in itself was a fundamental right under Article 18 of the Constitution.