Payment: ‘Take those banners off’

LAHORE: A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court on Tuesday for removal of political parties’ banners from The Mall and for a ban on their rallies in the city. Rana Azeem, president of Punjab Union of Journalists, has moved the petition through Advocate Aftab Bajwa. He submitted that PML-N, PTI and PPP have displayed their banners on The Mall despite a Punjab government ban on rallies. He added that PPP leader Babar Awan had also placed his banners on The Mall. He added that none of them had paid to the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) dues for putting up the banners. He requested the court to charge double the dues from them and use the money for the eradication of dengue. Shahbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and Babar Awan have been named as respondents in the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2011.