Judge wants decision on not using roads, chowks for protests

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Wednesday that it would be better if all political parties collectively decided not to use roads and chowks for arranging public meetings, sits-in and rallies to save people from suffering due to roads closure or traffic problem in Peshawar.

"Leadership of all political parties should sit together and decide in the public interest that public meetings and rallies would not be held on busy roads and chowks in the city," Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan observed while hearing a writ petition seeking an order of the court to declare the GT Road Peshawar as red zone for public meeting and rallies.

The petition was filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan. The KP government through chief secretary and secretary Transport were made parties to the case.

Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan remarked that patients also suffered as ambulances got stuck due to road blockades, public meetings and sits-in. Nowadays, he said, the Ring Road in Peshawar had become a place for public meetings of political parties to show its strength. He observed public meetings should be held at the open ground or space so that the people and parties would know strength.

Petitioner Khurshid replied he was not in a position to assemble all the heads of political parties on a table for having collective decision on the issue and that was why he had moved the court for taking direction. In the writ petition, the lawyer submitted before the bench that a group of religious people had blocked roads at Faizabad Interchange for 21 days and that ended due to military intervention. Similarly, on August 15, 2014 Tahirul Qadri of Pakistan Awami Tehreek staged 68 days sit-in in Islamabad. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf sit-in was for 126 days during which the protesters had broken gate of the Parliament House and also ransacked the PTV building. The petitioner said in other countries a road is not blocked even for the president or PM.

AAG Syed Sikandar Shahsaid the government had submitted comments in the petition and opposed the stance of the petitioner in the case. The court gave more time to the petitioner for submitting a rejoinder to the government reply and adjourned the case.