LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the provincial government, Inspector General (IG) of Punjab police and other officials to appear on January 31 in a petition pertaining to the removal of barriers from outside Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif’s house in Model Town.
The official respondents have been directed by the LHC to submit their replies regarding the petition by the next hearing.
According to the petition, the barriers outside the chief minister’s house are creating severe difficulties for the residents of the area and turning it into a no-go area.
The petitioner requested the court to issue orders for the removal of these barriers for the betterment of the residents.
On November 21, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the removal of barriers outside the house of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly (MNA) Hamza Shehbaz, while hearing a suo motu notice on the blocking of roads for security purposes at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry.
The chief justice reprimanded Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed when he said only the security gate near Hamza’s residence was removed and not the barriers.
CJP Nisar asked him to explain as to who posed threat to the MNA, prompting him to install security barriers outside his residence in a zigzag manner.
“Who’s Hamza. I don’t know any Hamza,” Chief Justice Nisar remarked.
In response, the chief secretary said, “Hamza is an MNA and the chief minister’s son.”
Hamza can appear before the court to apprise about the threats to his life and if there are genuine threats then he can shift his residence,” the chief justice remarked. “Why cannot these people reside where there is no life threat,” he continued.
“I am the chief justice, yet there are no blockades outside my house,” Justice Nisar said.
The chief secretary assured the court of removing the blockades.
Chief Justice Nisar informed the official that he will visit the place in a private vehicle to look into the implementation of the court’s order.
Taking exception to security guards taking bath in the open outside the lawmaker’s residence, he warned that if the practice didn’t stop, he would take strict action in this regard.
Hamza, an MNA from Lahore, resides in Model Town’s H-Block close to his father and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s residence.
Earlier, the Supreme Court in its written judgement ordered that traffic can only be stopped for two minutes to facilitate VVIP movement in a case regarding road blockades to facilitate VVIP movement.
Headed by Mian Saqib Nisar, a three-judge bench of the apex court heard the case at the Supreme Court’s (SC) Karachi Registry on January 13.
The CJP had specified that the convenience of the public should be kept above everything else and that the general public faces immense hardships when roads are blocked for VVIPs.
