News
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
PR directed to facilitate devotees to attend urs of Lal Shahbaz
Staff Report
LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday directed Pakistan Railways (PR) to facilitate devotees wanted to attend urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sewan Sharif.
The petition was moved on behalf of Jhoolay Lal Council, challenging the closure of special trains on the urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
On the court direction, the chief operating superintendent of Pakistan Railway submitted a reply to the petition, stating that the department was facing acute shortage of locomotives and was not in a position to run special trains.
He also submitted a report regarding special trains run by the railways during the last six months which included six special trains for Sikh pilgrims and one each for Raiwind religious congregation and urs of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan.
The report stated that Sikh trains had to be arranged because of an international commitment while only two special trains were arranged for domestic passengers. Due to the shortage of locomotives the department could not run special trains to facilitate the petitioner or devotees wished to attend the urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
After the report, the chief justice disposed of the petition with directions to the railway authorities to facilitate the devotees with additional bogies in routine trains, if it could not run special trains.
Council’s president Sheikh Tariq Abbas moved this petition in which he stated that railway runs 14 special trains every year to facilitate the devotees. He said that the council buys train’s tickets of worth Rs 3.6 million for the devotees every year giving huge revenue to the department.
He submitted that this year the railway closed different trains owing to financial constraints and also stopped service of special trains to accommodate the devotees of Lal Shahbaz. He said that the urs of Lal Shahbaz was going to be held between July 31 and August 2 in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh but the devotees were in serious problem due to closure of special trains and unable to reach their destination in time. He sought directions for railway to provide special train facility to the devotees who wanted to attend the urs.
Chief secy, TEPA engineer summoned in court on plea against protests at The Mall: Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court (LHC), while hearing a petition requesting ban on holding protest rallies and processions on The Mall, summoned the Punjab chief secretary and Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency’s (TEPA) chief engineer.
The CJ summoned the two officers after the Punjab home secretary submitted that a committee comprising the said persons had been constituted to chalk out a comprehensive traffic plan.
During the proceedings on Monday, the home secretary, DCO and chief traffic officer appeared in the court.
The CJ expressed his annoyance over DCO’s failure to chalk out a plan for smooth running of city traffic. While addressing the DCO, the CJ said, “You are an ineligible officer. Why did not you hold deliberations with all stakeholders, including traders and media persons, to resolve traffic issues?”
The CJ directed the DCO to hold meetings with media persons and ask them to stop giving coverage to rallies and processions held on The Mall, which would eventually free the road from all kinds of processions. The home secretary, on Monday, informed the court that a ban had been imposed on rallies on The Mall, taking effect from July 1. He also stated that an ordinance in this regard had been issued after the chief minister’s approval. The home secretary also stated that areas allocated for holding demonstrations included Nasir Bagh and Attique Stadium. Giving details, he stated that protesters would be allowed to hold demonstrations at Nasir Bagh if their number was around 1,000 whereas in case the number exceeds 1,000 they would be allowed to hold their protest in the Attique Stadium. The petition was filed on behalf of the Mall Road Traders Association.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that different political, religious and other parties held protests on The Mall on a daily basis. He said that due to such rallies, the traffic police had to block all adjoining roads to the Mall Road, which caused a great hurdle to the travelling public.
He said that business activity at The Mall had been badly affected due to the frequent protests and rallies and the petitioner too had faced considerable financial loss.
He had requested for directions to be issued against holding rallies on The Mall.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk