LAHORE: The All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran will move the Lahore High Court on Tuesday (today) against the Punjab government, making the chief secretary, CCPO, DCO, commissioner and CTO a party, to stop PAT from committing contempt of court by holding a protest rally on The Mall, which is banned by the court.

Addressing a press conference on Monday at the press club, APAT general secretary Naeem Mir requested the Pemra and all media groups and organisations to stop the coverage of Tahirul Qadri’s rally for being contempt to high court.

APAT general secretary appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take Suo motu notice of this contempt, giving a direction to the LHC to accept our petition immediately and pass the decision the same day, so that the order of ban could be implemented on Jan 17 properly.

He said a petition had been moved by a citizen against the Wednesday protest but LHC Justice Shahid Karim issued notices for Jan 20.

LHC judge for larger bench

“What is the benefit of accepting this petition when the decision is not made before Jan 17?” he asked.

LHC’s Justice Ijaz Chaudhry had, in November 2011, imposed a ban on all kinds of protest and rallies on The Mall on a petition of the All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran.

Later, on a petition against government’s failure to stop protest rallies on The Mall, the court issued notices to the Punjab police chief and the home secretary, asking them to ensure implementation of the order and allocate alternate venues for rallies. On the order of the LHC, The Mall was declared as red zone from Mian Mir bridge to PMG crossing.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court on Monday refused to stay the forthcoming sit-in of opposition parties in the city but issued notices to federal and the provincial governments on a petition against the protest.

After issuing notices, Justice Shahid Karim also referred the petition to the chief justice for constitution of a larger bench to further hear the matter.

Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, PML-Q, Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Awami Tehreek had been made party in the petition with a request to declare their Jan 17 sit-in unconstitutional and aimed at bring hatred towards the government established under the law.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018