The long march: Petition to stop Qadri sent to CJ

Barrister Jafree says that holding a peaceful protest is a constitutional right.

LAHORE: Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday turned down a plea to stop Dr Tahirul Qadri’s long march slated for January 14 and referred the petition to Chief Justice (CJ) Umar Ata Bandial to be heard with similar other petitions already pending before the court.

Pakistan Lawyers Forum’s AK Dogar had filed the petition which said Dr Qadri should not be allowed to hold a long march. He added that the long march being taken out by a ‘foreign national’ will cause instability and harm democracy.

Advocate Dogar prayed to the court to issue a restraining order against the long march.

Meanwhile, Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree had filed a writ petition in the LHC on Friday saying fool-proof security should be provided to the participants of Qadri’s long march.

Barrister Jafree said that holding a peaceful protest was a constitutional right of every citizen which could not be usurped in any case. He said Interior Minister Rehman Malik should be asked to disclose what evidence he had of a likely terrorist attack on the long march. He said Malik was trying to dissuade people from participating in the long march.

He requested the court to order the federal government to provide security for the long march.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.