Education first: IHC orders capital admin to get occupied schools vacated

Justice Minallah orders government to remove ‘unnecessary’ containers .

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday gave the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration a week to have 60 schools of the capital vacated which have been occupied by security personnel since August 13.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the city’s traders against the ongoing sit-ins.

Justice Athar Minallah directed the administration to get vacated schools occupied by the policemen from Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Fronted Constabulary (FC) personnel in a week. The court also asked the administration to provide the security officials with an alternative place and submit a detailed report on the next date of hearing.

Thousands of security personnel had been called in the federal capital to control protesters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) who have been staging sit-ins since August 14.

Earlier, on the last hearing, the court had ordered the administration to get all schools and colleges vacated and submit a report on September 9. On Tuesday, when the court resumed hearing of the case, the administration failed to submit a complete report and sought more time.  Assistant Commissioner (Rural) Maryam Mumtaz appeared before the court and sought more time. Justice Minallah expressed concerned over the closure of schools and said there is no justification to put in trouble thousands of schoolchildren. “Children are suffering due to closure of schools and there is no justification for this. Govt officials should get the schools vacated immediately,” observed Justice Minallah.

The court also directed the administration to remove unnecessary containers placed in different areas of the city.  “There is no harm to place containers for security purposes but unnecessary containers should be removed immediately,” he ordered.

The counsel for the petitioner, Ikram Chaudhry, maintained that sit-ins have continued after three weeks and the entire city life has been disturbed as a result. He requested the court to issue notices to heads of the political parties to which the court replied that notices had already been issued but they (political parties) were yet to respond.

According to the Federal Directorate of Education, currently, about 28 schools and colleges are being occupied by police personnel of the capital. Initially, there were about 32 educational institutes but on August 18, ICT Administration officially demanded another 27 institutes to house an additional 10,000 security personnel.

FDE is yet to submit its reply in the court stating that of the original 60, only 28 institutes are presently under occupation by security personnel.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2014.