ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a verbal plea to take suo motu notice of the deaths during the recently concluded protest staged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad.
The verbal plea was made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) additional advocate general (AAG), stating that the apex court should take suo motu notice as causalities were reported on both sides yesterday.
The federal government said that three Rangers personnel and two policemen were martyred during the protest while the PTI claimed that eight of its workers were killed.
In response to the plea, Justice Musarrat Hilali cautioned against making political statements during the proceedings of the top court.
Justice Aminuddin Khan stated that the court could not take up the matter which is not presented before it.
Later, the constitutional bench then rejected the verbal plea for taking the suo motu notice.
Meanwhile, normalcy is returning to Pakistani capital after abrupt end of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest, with key arterial routes restored for traffic and internet services resuming.
On Wednesday, M-4 Motorway (Pindi Bhattian – Multan) and the M-3 Motorway (Lahore – Abdul Hakeem) have been reopened for traffic, along with a key section of the M-4 from Pindi Bhattian to Abdul Hakeem.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced late Tuesday that schools, roads, and metro bus services would soon be operational again. Naqvi confirmed that schools would reopen from tomorrow, roads would be cleared by Wednesday, and internet services, as well as the Metro bus system, would be fully restored at the earliest.
In a late night presser, Naqvi said KP Chief Minister Gandapur and Bushra Bibi remained at large after fleeing the protest site during a large-scale crackdown on PTI protesters. He also commented on PTI’s refusal to move protest site, revealing that Bushra Bibi rejected Imran Khan’s directive to shift the protest to Sangjani and insisted on pushing forward towards D-Chowk.
