Islamabad court disposes of TMQ petition against harassment, arrests

In this Jan 9, 2013, photo, Tahirul Qadri speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Lahore. — Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad session judge on Saturday disposed of a petition filed by the Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran(TMQ) over the alleged harassment and arrest by the police of the TMQ workers, DawnNews reported.

The district administration and the police had told the court that TMQ workers were neither being arrested nor harassed.

The Islamabad Chief Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada and Inspector General Islamabad Police Bani Amin Khan through their representatives assured the court that neither the district administration nor the police had either arrested or harassed the TMQ workers.

Assistant Commissioner Noman Yousuf, Assistant Commissioner Imran Ali Sultan and Advocate Rizwan Abbasi represented the district administration in the court, whereas, sub-inspector Abdul Sattar was present on behalf of Amin.

Earlier, petitioner Guftar Hussain advocate, who is president of the Pakistan Awami Tahrik, the political wing of the TMQ, had adopted before the court that the police and district administration were trying to harass the party’s workers.

He alleged that the district administration had on Thursday tried to dismantle the reception camp set up by the TMQ.

The petition had requested the court to restrain the respondents from harassing TMQ activists and creating obstacles in the long march.