Justice Iftikhar Ali Shah of Lahore High Court on Thursday sought comments from the IG and the CCPO during the hearing of a petition regarding the illegal detention of 135 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activists.
Petitioner Zubair Niazi, said party activists were being detained in a violation of its orders. A statement from the IG refuting the allegations was submitted to the court. He said that no PTI workers had been arrested in the province. The IGP said some people were detained after the Home Department issued orders under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
The CCPO said no PTI activists had been arrested. He said there was no ban on holding peaceful protest demonstrations in the city. The CCPO conceded that 13 PTI workers had been detained at the Gulberg police station. The counsel for the petitioner presented a list of 135 PTI activists alleged to have been detained.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2014.