ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seems losing interest in pursuing its petitions in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the imposition of Section 144 in the federal capital.

On Wednesday when Justice Athar Minallah resumed the hearing of the petitions filed by Jehangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr Arif Alvi, Asad Umar and Shafqat Mehmood, only Mr Umar was present in the courtroom.

In mid-September, the PTI leadership filed the petitions after the capital police started arresting the party activists and supporters for violation of the Section 144, which prohibits the gathering of five or more people at a time in any place.

Also read: IHC summons DC in plea against Section 144

Initially, all the petitioners regularly attended the hearings but with the passage of time they started skipping the proceedings.

During the last a couple of hearings, only Asad Umar, MNA from NA-48 Islamabad, has attended the hearings.

Senior counsel for the party, Farrukh Dall, was also not in the courtroom on Wednesday.

Most of its leaders are now skipping the petition filed against Section 144 in capital

When contacted, Advocate Dall said during the earlier hearings the leadership was worried because of the arrest of the party workers.

“Since the court has granted the PTI a relief by virtually suspending the section, the leaders felt relaxed,” he said.

Giving another reason for the absence of the PTI leadership, he said after the initial hearing the court adjourned the matter for a week and gave further adjournments after intervals. Now the court has started the day-to-day hearing and the petitioners feel that they can attend the proceedings anytime.

During the Wednesday’s proceedings, advocate Ikram Chaudhry, the counsel for the Islamabad traders association, told the court that the sit-ins of the PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehree (PAT) had brought the life of the residents at a standstill besides disturbing the business activities in the city.

He said the right to assembly was the fundamental right as enshrined in the constitution but it also entailed reasonable restrictions.

“People are being searched by private persons while passing the Constitution Avenue which is a glaring example of curtailment of the right to movement.”

He said the Islamabad administration had failed to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens and was reluctant to maintain its writ.

He requested the court to direct the administration to allocate a space for processions at some other place where the sit-ins would not affect the routine life.

PTI’s counsel Shuaib Shaheen pointed out that the Supreme Court was also dealing with an identical matter and the local traders can join the petitions already filed with the apex court.

Justice Minallah, however, observed that since the Supreme Court had not passed any restraining order with regard to the IHC proceedings, he cannot stop the hearing of the matter matter.

He said the court would also hear the arguments of the PAT and the additional attorney general and then would announce its order possibly before the Eid holidays.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014