PESHAWAR, Sept 29: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday put on notice the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police and senior superintendent of police (traffic), Peshawar, in a writ petition challenging the blockade of several busy roads in the city by erecting barricades, especially during the provincial assembly session.

The petitioner, advocate Mohammad Essa Khan, requested the court to declare the closure of roads illegal and unconstitutional, as it created problems for the residents and restrict their free movement. He stated that the continuous barricading of major roads, including the University and Sunehri Masjid roads, had turned the life of people miserable. The court directed the police department to submit its point of view on the issue at the next hearing of the case on Oct 20. Mr Khan appeared in person and stated that the local police had placed big cement blocks in the middle of different roads and set up checkpoints in the name of security measures.

He said that the frequent movement of legislators and other VIPs during the provincial assembly session was proving a constant headache for the people, as sometime they had to wait in suffocating environment for hours for the clearance of roads.

The petitioner said that the main Khyber Road was turned into a no go area during the assembly session. He said that several link roads in Peshawar Cantonment had already been closed and u-turns blocked on the University Road and Sunehri Masjid Road and motorists had to travel for several kilometres for a single turn.

The respondents in the petition are the provincial home secretary, the provincial police chief and the Peshawar’s senior superintendent of police (traffic).

The petitioner stated that students and office-goers were the worst sufferers of this situation as they often got stuck in severe traffic jams due to blocked roads.

He added that it was unconstitutional to restrict freedom of movement of individuals and put restriction on their mobility.