A lawyer walks past the High Court building in Peshawar. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR:
A writ petition has been filed before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) challenging the ongoing blockade of the Islamabad-Peshawar Expressway and Grand Trunk (GT) Road by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers, describing the action as unconstitutional and a violation of fundamental rights of citizens.
Advocate Tariq Afghan, through Advocate Huzaifa Ahmed, filed the petition naming Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Government, Inspector General of Police, PTI Provincial Chairman Junaid Akbar Khan and National Highways Authority as respondents.
The petitioner, a practicing lawyer, stated that he frequently travels to different courts in the province to pursue legal cases. He maintained that hundreds of PTI activists have blocked key roads for several days, cutting off inter-provincial connectivity and causing serious disruption to public movement.
According to the petition, protesters have set up sit-ins at Swabi Ambar junction on the highway and near Attock bridge on GT Road, completely stopping traffic in both directions. This has caused severe hardship for ordinary citizens, including travel restrictions, delays in essential supplies such as flour from Punjab and other provinces, and disruptions in inter-provincial trade.
The petition invokes Article 15 of the Constitution, which guarantees all citizens the right to free movement throughout Pakistan. While acknowledging that peaceful protest is a constitutional right, the petitioner emphasized that no demonstration may infringe on the rights of others or involve coercion. Forcibly preventing citizens from traveling against their will constitutes a serious crime, the file maintains.
He further alleges that the local administration, National Highway officials and other authorities have remained passive spectators, failing to intervene despite widespread public suffering. The petition highlights a tragic incident in which a patient reportedly died in an ambulance due to delays caused by the previous day’s lockdown, underscoring the human cost of the protests.
Criticizing the irony of the situation, the petitioner pointed out that the people of KP have repeatedly elected PTI to power by majority but are now the worst affected by the party’s agitation tactics while the government and administration seem unwilling to act.
The court has been urged to declare the road closures illegal, take immediate action against those responsible and issue orders to all parties to reopen the expressway and GT Road without delay. This would restore interprovincial ties, alleviate public hardships, and maintain constitutional protections.
