Plea against PDM’s Lahore public gathering withdrawn

LAHORE:A citizen on Thursday withdrew his petition after Justice Jawad Hassan of the Lahore High Court observed the opposition parties could not be asked directly not to hold public gatherings in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

Irfan Ali filed the petition asking the court to restrain the opposition parties of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) from holding its public meeting in Lahore on Dec 13.

Justice Hassan took up the petition as an objection case and upheld an office objection on it for making a prayer to the court to order the political parties to stop their meetings. With the judge’s permission, petitioner’s counsel Nadeem Sarwar withdrew the petition to file the same after making necessary amendment. The petitioner submitted that the opposition was going to hold a public meeting at Minar-i-Pakistan ground in Lahore despite a health emergency imposed by the government in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. He said the PDM had been holding its meetings in different parts of the country ignoring a ban on public gatherings imposed by the government. He claimed that the meetings by the opposition parties had become a main source of spreading coronavirus in the country. The petitioner argued that the leaders of the opposition had been playing with the lives of the citizens in the name of politics. He pointed out that all educational institutions had also been closed since the second wave of Covid-19 hit the country.

Judicial officers: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan has directed all the judicial officers in Punjab to ensure strict implementation of the SOPs issued to cope with coronavirus.

Chief Justice Khan was addressing to the district and sessions judges and senior civil judges across the province through video link from Punjab Judicial Academy. The chief justice said that connectivity through video link is the best use of technology in the current epidemic situation and holding such online meetings through video link is very beneficial.

He said the LHC has issued instructions from time to time to deal with the coronavirus. "In the current situation, our responsibilities are increasing. Wearing mask and using sanitizer can save us from pandemic. If the virus had certain duration, we would have stopped working temporarily, but according to experts, we have to deal with the virus by following the instructions of the experts who are reaching us through the media," he said. The chief justice said, “We have to fulfil our responsibilities and protect our lives.”