PESHAWAR: A local trader on Tuesday moved the Peshawar High Court against the checking of the Afghanistan-bound cargo trucks by the activists of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and its allied parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and prayed the court to declare the action illegal and unconstitutional.

In the petition filed through lawyer Shahnawaz Khan, Haji Lal Mohammad sought the court’s orders for respondents, including the provincial government and provincial police officer, to ensure the rule of law by stopping supporters of PTI and other parties from checking documents of cargo trucks in the province.

He also requested the court that until the final disposal of the petition, the political activists be restrained from checking Afghanistan-bound cargo trucks as the act had been adversely affecting business by causing heavy losses and that there was immediate apprehension of the law and order situation.

The petitioner said he was regularly paying tax for dealing in export of rice and perishable goods to Afghanistan and that he had registered himself as a exporter with the government by the name of Lal Mohammad Traders.

He said on Nov 24, the PTI and allied parties staged a sit-in against drone attacks and vowed to block Nato supplies to Afghanistan through different routes in the province.

The petitioner said the members of PTI and allied parties continued with the Nato supplies’ blockade checking documents of Afghanistan-bound cargo trucks without lawful authority.

He said supporters of PTI and truckers reportedly had some unhappy incidents over the road blockade and checking of documents.

He said the government was bound by duty to maintain the rule of the law and check violation of the law but in the current case, it had failed to perform the said duty and thus, multiplying the hardships of the people concerned.

The petitioner said the checking of the cargo trucks’ permits by supporters of PTI and allied parties was unconstitutional, illegal and without lawful authority.

The respondents in the petition are the federation through the interior secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the chief secretary, home secretary and provincial police officer, and PTI through its provincial president.