LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed the city’s deputy commissioner to decide on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) request seeking permission to hold a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan on February 8 — to observe “Black Day” marking the first anniversary of last year’s general elections.
The development came as the LHC’s Justice Farooq Haider heard the PTI Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza’s petition, filed on February 3, in relation to the party’s bid to hold a power show in the provincial capital.
During the hearing, the court summoned Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman to clarify the procedure for granting such approvals. The chief secretary and DC Musa Raza appeared before the court, where the judge questioned whether any time limit was set for deciding such applications.
The DC responded that there were no restrictions on the timeframe.
The court observed that delaying the decision would restrict PTI from approaching another legal forum if their request were rejected at the last moment.
Justice Haider directed the DC to issue a decision by 5pm, emphasising that an early resolution would allow the party to make necessary arrangements.
The court disposed of the petition following its ruling.
Following the court’s directive, PTI provincial leader Aliya spoke to the media outside LHC, criticising the authorities for delaying the decision. She said that despite 10 days passing since the application was submitted, the district administration was still undecided about granting permission.
She reiterated that holding public gatherings was PTI’s legal and constitutional right and demanded an immediate response.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
