Petition filed against bus-stop ‘extortion’

Court seeks reply from Islamabad commissioner.


Obaid Abbasi December 11, 2010

RAWALPINDI: A court sought the response of Chief Commissioner Islamabad after residents of Union Council Kirpa accused the area’s administrators of being complacent in the forceful extortion of locals through a ‘bus-stop fee.’

The petition was filed by Hafiz Ghulam Afzaal, a resident of Union Council Kirpa, on behalf of other residents, commuters and transporters of the area and received by Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh of Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday.

The petitioner named Sheikh Zulfiqar Hussain as the person who was forcibly extorting money from people at the Satra Meel bus-stand in the name of Adda fee. The court was told that a resident Faisal Mehmood was shot when he refused to pay up.

Challenging the tax imposed at the bus stop, the petitioner claimed that the assistant commissioner of the area, administrator of Kirpa’s union council and assistant director of the local government were all involved in the extortion fee.

The legal counsel of the petitioner told the court that the respondent is neither a transporter nor a local resident, but a person with influential contacts.

The counsel claimed that the rural magistrate had issued him a temporary work order, using which he was extorting the local people.

Upon refusal to pay the fee, Hussain allegedly threatens dire consequences.

These are not just empty threats, he said, and there have been numerous incidents of violence.

He added that no such stand could be setup within the jurisdiction of the union council without the approval of Regional Transport Authority.

He expressed disappointment that this illegal practice was continuing and immediate action was needed.

The court directed the standing counsel to get a reply from Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada on December 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2010.

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