LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday observed that had the judicial orders been complied with by the governments in their letter and spirit, the condition of the provincial metropolis would have been better today.

Justice Jawad Hassan lamented that living in Lahore had become difficult due to smog.

“Had the environmental laws been implemented positively there would have been no smog today,” the judge further regretted.

The judge was hearing a public interest petition filed by civil society member Imrana Tiwana challenging the elimination of green areas in and around Lahore.

Advocate Azhar Siddique appeared on behalf of the petitioner and argued before the court that the matter related to the fundamental rights of the citizens. He said the air pollution had increased manifold due to uncontrolled and unplanned urbanisation in the city.

The counsel contended that aggressive legislation was the need of the hour to protect the green lands in the city.

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He asked the court to issue directions to the housing and environmental authorities to take stern actions against the violators of the environmental laws.

Justice Hassan issued notices to the provincial secretary for housing and other respondents for submission of their replies by Jan 5.

In a separate matter, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti on Tuesday summoned a report from the chief secretary of Punjab on the master plans of cities and villages in the province.

Advocate Siddique filed a petition on behalf of Judicial Activism Panel (JAP).

He submitted that the development authorities failed to perform their responsibilities towards civic facilities. He said the government recently prepared a new master plan for Lahore, however, the same exercise had not been done for other cities in the province.

The chief justice would resume the hearing after a fortnight.

Petition disposed of: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday disposed of a petition of a woman challenging the alleged illegal detention of her two sons in case of Wazirabad attack on former prime minister Imran Khan.

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Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid directed the counsel for Irshad Bibi, the petitioner, to produce the video record of the alleged arrest of the woman’s sons before the district police officer (DPO) of Gujranwala.

The judge also directed the DPO to finalise the investigation report after examining the video record.

Earlier, lawyers belonging to the PML-N including special assistant to prime minister Attaullah Tarar appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner woman.

They contended that police illegally picked up Mudassir and Ahsan – the sons of the petitioner – merely on suspicion. They said the police had not declared the arrest of the petitioner’s sons in the record and kept them in illegal detention.

They said the detained brothers were workers of the PML-N and police ‘abducted’ them on political considerations.

The lawyers asked the court to get the detainees recovered from the alleged illegal custody of the police and set them free.

However, the judge disposed of the petition with directions to the petitioner and the DPO.

Talking to reporters outside the court, Mr Tarar lashed out at CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mahmood Dogar saying the police were trying to make the ‘abduction’ of the petitioner’s sons a case of missing persons.

He said the CCPO was a ‘dacoit’ in uniform and had been watching the interests of a political party. He said the mother of the PML-N workers would personally appear before the inspector general of police with all evidence of the police raid and illegal detention of her sons.

Tarar said Chief Minister Parvez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi would face accountability for their alleged corruption of billions of rupees.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2023