The Sindh government has withdrawn the notification banning motorcycle riding in the metropolis following the suspension of the govt’s decision by the Sindh High Court.
Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary Home Waseem Ahmed told the high court that the provincial government had not issued directives to close shops.
SHC Chief Justice Musheer Alam on Friday heard the petition of Sindh High Court Bar challenging the government’s decision for banning motorcycles riding on Muharram first. During the hearing, Additional Chief Secretary Home Waseem Ahmed, IG Sindh Fayaz Leghari, Advocate General Sindh Fateh Malik and Sindh High Court Bar President Anwar Mansoor Khan appeared before the court.
Waseem Ahmed told the court that the government had withdrawn the notification.
The chief justice directed the government to refrain itself from violating the basic rights of citizens while taking security measures. The SHC Friday maintained its yesterday’s order of suspending interior ministry’s notification against the day-long ban on use of motorcycles in Karachi. The court said that if there was any terrorist threat, the ministry should have taken other counter measures to overcome it.
Criticising the rationale of interior ministry’s notification, the SHC said that how can a common man who commutes by a motorcycle be a terror-threat to the country.
Chief Justice said that interior ministry’s decision would have affected lives of millions of people in the country.
Advocate General Sindh told the court that “99 per cent of the motorcycles on the roads of Karachi were unregistered.” He said that the interior ministry placed a ban on motorcycle riding in the port city because there was a threat of terrorism. Moreover, he said that last year on the same day city’s peace was dismantled.
The chief justice late Thursday had issued the order on a petition filed by SHC Bar Association President Anwar Mansoor Khan against the ban on riding motorcycles in the provincial capital.
