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LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday ordered the DCO Lahore and other police officials to remove barriers from roads surrounding offices of top police officials and open roads closed in name of security.
Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik passed the order while hearing a petition seeking action against the president of the Punjab Paramedical Alliance (PPA) over an elderly woman's death in an ambulance stuck in a traffic jam due to PPA demonstration.
Earlier, DIG Operations, CCPO Lahore and DCO Lahore appeared before the court on being summoned.
The court inquired CCPO about action taken against protestors in the matter.
The CCPO Ahmad Raza Tahir submitted that action would be taken against protestors, if the court ordered.
However, the court reprimanding officials over failure to take action observed that it was duty of the administration to take action.
The court held that it was duty of police to maintain law and order and keep roads clear for traffic.
The court ordered to submit written report within 15-days. The DCO Lahore assured the court that the needful would be done.
Petitioner Mian Asad Mahmood, in his petition, submitted that Saleema Bibi had died in route to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology on February 8 when her ambulance was held up in a traffic jam caused by a PPA demonstration.
The paramedics had blocked Jail Road during their protest for a professional allowance, pay protection and revision of the service structure for lower grade employees, he added.
Mahmood said that these protests, causing road blockage, were not just an inconvenience to the public at large, but could cause deaths, as in the case of Saleema Bibi.
He said that the PPA had a right to protest, but not to stop ambulances. He submitted that street demonstrations were becoming more and more common as at least two or three take place in Lahore every day.
He asked the court to direct the Punjab government to devise a strategy to regulate the protests. He also asked PPA President Malik Munir to be penalised for his role in the death of Saleema Bibi.
