Defacing public institutions: SHC tells police to take action against perpetrators

The petitioner said political activists had defaced the National Institute of Child Health with graffiti, banners.

KARACHI:

Political parties are usually accused of doing little for public welfare — something that should be their prime objective, considering they are the representatives of the people. Instead of fulfilling their responsibilities, however, all they seem to be doing is engaging in rhetoric and verbiage.

It is no wonder then that the entire city wears the look of ‘masterpiece’ of political slogans and innuendos. Not even healthcare facilities or academic institutions have been spared from the menace. The management of one of the city’s largest public health facilities — the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) — has been struggling to save the institute’s façade and walls from being defaced by political workers.

So dire is the matter that the Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the police to register the complaint of the hospital’s management and take action against those trying to deface the health facility. The division bench that passed the directives also asked them to submit compliance reports by January 20.

The petition

These directions came on a petition filed by human rights activist, Javed Iqbal Burki, who had gone to court, stating that the NICH, a 500-bed public hospital, was being defaced by the wall-chalking, banners and posters of various political parties.

The petitioner said that some of the facility’s paramedical staff, most of whom were members of medical wings of political parties, had damaged the appearance of the building by putting up huge banners, posters and flags of their respective parties in different wards as well as the entrances and exits of the hospital.

The alleged perpetrators have even carried out wall-chalking in the wards, rooms and boundary walls of the health facility, Burki pointed out. The paramedics were also found interacting with the patients to promote their respective parties, he added.

The petitioner complained that the hospital’s management has tried a number of times to take steps to remove the banners, flags and graffiti but the paramedics always held unlawful gatherings on the NICH premises to intimidate, insult and annoy the functionaries. The latter even threatened them with violence in case any action was taken against them.

He pleaded the court to restrain the paramedic staff and political activists from interfering, harassing and hindering in the administration and functioning of the NICH. He also sought a direction for the police high-ups to take action against the NICH staff involved in such activities.

While disposing of the petition, the judges directed the relevant police station’s house officer to take action according to the law, whenever a complaint is made by the hospital’s management for action against the politically motivated staffers for defacing the health facility.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2015.