Jhelum Road: Police to bar heavy vehicles during daytime

Assure LHC that such vehicles will be kept off the road

RAWALPINDI: District administration and city police officials on Monday assured judges of Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench that they would bar heavy traffic from using Jhelum Road during the day to avoid future accidents on the road.

Commissioner Azmat Mahmood, District Coordination Officer Talat Mahmood Gondal, and City Police Officer Israr Ahmed Abbasi were called by Justice Muhammad Amir Bhatti, the senior judge of the LHC Rawalpindi bench.

Judges and representatives of the Rawalpindi Bar Association expressed concern over the presence of heavy traffic on Jhelum Road during the day and have been concerned by an accident that took place on October 20 which resulted in the death of a woman and injuries to six others including five lawyers.

The meeting was also attended by Justice Attir Mahmood, Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi, Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem, High Court Bar Association President Mujeebur Rehman Kiani, and District Bar Association (DBA) President Shaukat Rauf Siddiqui.

The commissioner informed the judges that the traffic police and Punjab government would try to control heavy traffic on Jhelum Road from the district courts to the LHC building. He said that efforts would also be made to ease traffic flow in front of Fauji Foundation Hospital. The commissioner further said that a road adjacent to the high court premises leading toward Gulzar-e-Quaid would also be closed and a new road would be built for the locality.

Separately, the DBA filed a petition with the LHC seeking an order to restrain the presence of heavy traffic on Jhelum Road during the day.

Filed through Advocate Tanveer Iqbal, the petition prayed the court to direct the city police officer, Punjab Highways Authority, and the district coordination officer to take the required action.

In the public interest petition, the lawyers’ representative noted that heavy traffic on the busy Jhelum Road had endangered lives of citizens and lawyers who routinely used it to travel to and from the high court.

The petition is likely to be fixed for hearing in the next two days.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2016.