ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC on Monday issued show-cause notices to the secretary interior and the inspector general of police (IGP) Islamabad for not vacating 16 schools from policemen called from different districts for the security duty.

When the court asked Deputy Commissioner Mujahid Sherdil what were the hurdles in vacating the schools when the court had already issued orders, he said he had conveyed the court orders to the secretary interior and the IGP. On this, the court directed that the secretary interior and the IGP be issued show-cause notices why proceeding may not be initiated against them for disobeying the court orders and why cost may not be imposed on them for the loss of students.

The secretary interior and the IGP were directed to file affidavits within four days.

Justice Athar Minallah issued the directions while hearing two petitions one filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) against the imposition of Section 144 in the city and the other by the Aabpara Traders Association president, Ajmal Baloch against the sit-ins in the city.

IHC directs officials to file affidavits within four days

Justice Minallah observed that through the previous order the court had virtually suspended the imposition of Section 144 in Islamabad and freed over 600 people. The judge remarked that the court was dealing with the question of civil liberties. “Protest is the right of everyone but it is not an absolute right and there are certain conditions to it. It is a matter of competing fundamental rights,” Justice Minallah said.

He also asked the lawyers, including the PTI counsel Farrukh Dal, additional attorney general of Pakistan Afnan Karim Kundi, whether the prime minister and the interior minister or the district magistrate had the authority to grant permission for holding a protest.

If the prime minister and the interior minister were not competent, under what pretext they publicly announced that they had allowed the marchers to protest on the Constitution Avenue, he asked.

Justice Minallah remarked that if the prime minister and the interior minister had unlawfully allowed the protesters, the cost that the national exchequer suffered may be imposed on them. The PTI and PAT have also to explain whether they knowingly held the protests on the Constitution Avenue that the PM and the minister did not have the authority to permit and they needed permission from the district magistrate. If this proves, the cost that the national exchequer suffered will also be imposed on the two parties.

Additional attorney general (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi informed the court that there was no permission granted to the two political parties to hold the sit-ins in the city.

At the start of the proceeding, PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi argued that last time the court had directed that MNA Asad Umar and the district magistrate Islamabad should jointly devise a mechanism to not only prevent any arrest but also the violation of law by the protesters.

The Islamabad administration, however, flouted the orders. “They sent our political workers to Rawalpindi and procured their arrest there to avoid legal complications. There is no change in the behaviour of the administration despite court orders,” he added.

The judge told Mr Qureshi to provide a list of the arrested persons besides the clippings of newspapers and video footages about the crackdown on the PTI workers.

He also expressed concerns over the presence of children among the protesters and said they were vulnerable to contract diseases. The safety and security of the minors is the responsibility of those who have brought them.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2014