Court order: Police asked not to harass MQI activists

Lawyer accuses administration of removing reception camp, creating hurdles.

ISLAMABAD:

A trial court on Saturday directed the capital police and administration not to harass activists of Minhajul Quran International (MQI) after they moved the court against the alleged harassment by the police.

During the course of hearing on Saturday, the judge disposed of the case while directing the Islamabad administration not to harass the workers. Representative of Islamabad administration informed the court that the police were performing their duty to maintain law and order in the city and not harassing them.

Guftar Hussain, president of Pakistan Awami Tehrik, the political wing of Minhajul Quran International, accused the police and district administration of creating impediments for their workers. He said the police were trying to harass their activists while they were campaigning for the long march and establishing camps in the city.

He alleged that district administration had removed the reception camp set up by their activists a day earlier and requested the court to restrain the respondents from harassing Minhajul Quran activists.

Meanwhile Minhajul Quran International Spokesperson Islamabad Ghulam Ali Khan told The Express Tribune, “We have established two dozen camps in the city and our activists are busy in a door-to door-campaign.”

On January 11, District and Sessions Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan had issued notices to Chief Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada, Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmed and Inspector General of Islamabad Bani Amin in response to a petition filed by MQI activists.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2013.