‘Special trains for Shahbaz Qalandar urs’
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Pakistan Railways (PR) to run special train to facilitate the pilgrims.
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Pakistan Railways (PR) to run special train to facilitate the pilgrims for participation in the urs of Lal Shehbaz Qalandar.
Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif directed the PR authorities “to provide the facilities to the petitioners without fail so that they can make a pilgrimage to the holy shrine in Sehwan Sharif.” The CJ held that in case of non compliance of this order, contempt of court proceedings will be initiated against the PR.
Earlier, the counsel for the PR submitted that the LHC has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition against the PR. In his rebuke to the counsel the CJ said that the court can do “everything in order to reach at a just conclusion and to provide justice to the people”. He also warned the counsel to be careful in the future about submitting such replies.
The petitions were filed by the Jhoolay Lal Council (JLC), one through Shahbaz Ali Gogi and the other through its president Sheikh Tariq Abbas.
The JLC contended that for over 28 years thousands of people in the Punjab had undertaken the pilgrimage using special trains, therefore it was imperative that the JLC reserve seats in advance. However, this year the PR authorities had refused to entertain the JLC’s request saying that there were no trains available for this purpose. The urs starts on July 31 and ends on August 2.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Pakistan Railways (PR) to run special train to facilitate the pilgrims for participation in the urs of Lal Shehbaz Qalandar.
Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif directed the PR authorities “to provide the facilities to the petitioners without fail so that they can make a pilgrimage to the holy shrine in Sehwan Sharif.” The CJ held that in case of non compliance of this order, contempt of court proceedings will be initiated against the PR.
Earlier, the counsel for the PR submitted that the LHC has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition against the PR. In his rebuke to the counsel the CJ said that the court can do “everything in order to reach at a just conclusion and to provide justice to the people”. He also warned the counsel to be careful in the future about submitting such replies.
The petitions were filed by the Jhoolay Lal Council (JLC), one through Shahbaz Ali Gogi and the other through its president Sheikh Tariq Abbas.
The JLC contended that for over 28 years thousands of people in the Punjab had undertaken the pilgrimage using special trains, therefore it was imperative that the JLC reserve seats in advance. However, this year the PR authorities had refused to entertain the JLC’s request saying that there were no trains available for this purpose. The urs starts on July 31 and ends on August 2.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.