The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to the East deputy commissioner (DC) and SSP on a contempt of court application filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for not obeying the court order with regard to grant of permission to hold a public meeting near the Mazar-e-Quaid.
Filing a contempt of court application, Sindh PTI General Secretary Ahmed Ali Palh submitted that the high court had directed the DC to call a meeting of all the stakeholders, including the petitioner or his representatives, and accord permission to hold a public meeting after compliance and observance of codal formalities while addressing security concerns.
He submitted that the high court had also observed that if permission could not be given to hold a public gathering at the Bagh-e-Jinnah over security concerns, some reasonable alternative venue agreeable to the petitioner may be taken into consideration.
The applicant’s counsel submitted that despite the court order, two meetings were held but the directions of the court had not been complied with in letter and spirt. He submitted that no minutes of the meetings were prepared and despite the court direction to grant permission to the petitioner for holding a public meeting near the Mazar-e-Quaid or an alternative place, no compliance had been made.
The SHC was requested to take action against the alleged contemnors for violating the court orders and directed the government to grant permission to the petitioner for holding a public meeting. A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan after a preliminary hearing of the application issued notices to the East DC and SSP, and called their comments on June 5.
It is pertinent to mention that the SHC had on May 13 observed that no substance or legal ground had been mentioned in the East DC’s report which could justify withholding permission to the petitioner for holding a public rally near the Mazar-e-Quaid or Bagh-e-Jinnah, when reportedly two political parties had already held public rallies near the Bagh-e-Jinnah and Corridor-III.