LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed as non-maintainable a petition seeking compensation for the damage done to public and private property by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) followers during protests against acquittal of Christian woman Aasia Bibi by the Supreme Court in a blasphemy case on October 31.
Justice Aatir Mehmood heard the case. Asia Bibi had been sentenced to death on blasphemy charges in 2010. The petitioner stated that TLP protesters caused a considerable damage to public and private property. He said that protection of lives and properties of people was the first responsibility of the government. He said that failure to fulfil this responsibility would be tantamount to violation of people’s fundamental rights. He asked the court to direct the Punjab government to compensate the people whose properties were damaged during countrywide protests.
Protests involving thousands of demonstrators demanding that Aasia be hanged, spearheaded by the TLP, erupted moments after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction on Wednesday. The protesters forced shutdown and roadblocks and damaged public property.
Late on Friday, the PTI government reached a deal with TLP and other groups to end protests with ‘various levels’ of success.
On Sunday, the government launched a crackdown on the violent protesters and started making arrests.
A delegation led by TLP Nazim-e-Aala Waheed Noor held a meeting with the government team at Civil Secretariat late on Monday. They raised concerns over countrywide crackdown.
As per insiders, the government stuck to its guns over the ongoing crackdown on protesters showed ransacking public property and damaging public vehicles and motorcycles.
The government team, consisting of Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat and senior lawmen, made it clear to the TLP men that miscreants would face the music.
Earlier in the day the TLP threatened to take to the streets if the government “does not enforce the agreement in letter and spirit”.
TLP founder Pir Afzal Qadri, who also used harsh words against state institutions to motivate his followers, said in his video message his group would not “bow to any pressure”. He asked his followers to keep in close liaison with local leadership for timely response to any ‘government atrocity.’
Court extends remand of parking company officials
An accountability court on Tuesday extended judicial remand of two officials of Lahore Parking Company (LPC) in a corruption case. The court extended judicial remand of LPC ‘s chief executive officer Taseer Ahmed and chief financial officer Usman Qayyum for another 14-day. Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan conducted the proceedings.
The accused officials violated PPRA rules and illegally awarded contract to the NTG and Green Park, causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. It is pertinent to mention here that the court had already release LPC’s general manager Faizan Wali and accounts manager Saad Rafique as well as National Technology Group (NTG) CEO Faisal Rao after they deposited Rs 80 million in accordance with plea bargain deal.