LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday told the Lahore High Court that rabid dogs would be culled, as there is no cure for rabies.

A provincial law officer presented a policy regarding stray dogs before a two-member bench headed by Justice Shahid Karim in connection with a petition challenging the lack of government’s action to address the issue of stray dogs.

He assured the court that the policy would be implemented across the province.

He pointed out that rabid dogs would be culled, as there is no cure for rabies.

The bench disposed of the petition in light of the policy presented by the government lawyer for dealing with stray dogs.

Advocate Rana Sikandar, the petitioner, contended that according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, approximately 100,000 people were bitten by dogs annually and there were three million stray dogs in the country.

The petitioner argued that there was no policy for culling stray dogs and incidents of stray dogs attacking citizens occur frequently.

He further argued that the district administration was not taking steps to address the issue and requested the court to direct the government to formulate a policy for culling stray dogs.

Arguments sought: An election tribunal on Tuesday sought arguments on an election petition challenging the victory of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son and former chief minister Hamza Shehbaz from NA-118, Lahore.

The tribunal heard the petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Aliya Hamza Malik.

The petitioner submitted that according to Form 45, she was declared winner in the Feb 8 poll, but the election commission manipulated the results through Form 47 and declared Hamza as the returned candidate, instead.

The petitioner asked the tribunal to set aside Hamza’s victory notification and declare her the returned candidate.

The tribunal directed the lawyers of both – the petitioner and the respondent – to come with arguments on the maintainability of the election petition.

Further proceedings were adjourned for Jan 28.

According to the results announced by the ECP, Hamza secured 105,960, while Ms Malik bagged 100,803 votes.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2025