SLAMABAD - In a complete disregard to the Supreme Court’s direction, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have refused to clear the Constitution Avenue and continuing their sit-ins on the same place.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk on Monday had asked the Attorney General and PTI and PAT counsels to hold meetings and get cleared the Constitution Avenue by Tuesday.
However, the PTI and PAT have not yet cleared the Avenue and in their replies submitted in the apex court on Tuesday, took stance that their protests were causing no hindrance in the free movement of people including judges, lawyers, litigants and staff of the departments whose buildings were located on the Red Zone.
Hamid Khan filed PTI statement that states, “PTI members are away from the Constitution Avenue and sitting towards the Parade Ground, which has not been used for any kind of traffic for the last more than five years. Thus its members are in no way obstructing the flow of the traffic on the Constitution Avenue.”
PAT reply states that in pursuance of the apex court’s order PAT counsel Syed Ali Zafar had a meeting with Attorney General Salman Butt and PTI lawyer Hamid Khan in the Supreme Court building. The AGP proposed that the sit-in should be shifted to Sports Complex or to some other location.
“The PAT protesters are not in a position to accept the proposal of the attorney general,” reply said. “It is practically not possible for them to be physically confined to any limited place.”
The reply further said that the PAT leadership examined the court order but its workers had refused to even stay on the pathways and on the sides of the Constitution Avenue.
The statement says; “Inconvenience of few citizens is nothing as compared to the grief and misery of the people whose near and dear ones have been killed or injured in Model Town firing.”
It also said that the government was holding an emergent meeting with a plan to commit violence on the protesters and again repeat a tragedy like the Model Town. The PAT prayed to the court to dismiss the petition.
However, the PAT said its workers would not make any hindrance to the free movement of the general public on the Constitution Avenue.
The attorney general also submitted a report that they had suggested alternate location to both the parties for holding sit-ins and also proposed that they would go back to the original locations where they had staged protests earlier. However, the PTI and PAT rejected the proposals. According to AGP report, the PTI counsel Ahmed Awais had informed him that “Imran Khan was not willing to leave the present spot.”
The report also mentioned that the PTI and PAT despite their commitments that they would not enter Red Zone had been occupying it for the last one week.