ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday turned down Shohada Foundation of Pakistan Trust’s (SFPT) petition praying that the live coverage of dancing and singing of the youngsters at the sit-in protest of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) may be stopped.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the petitioner by declaring his petition as frivolous.
After initial hearing of the petition, the IHC bench dismissed the SFPT petition declaring it non-maintainable and directed the petitioner to deposit Rs 5,000 fine with Amna Masood Janjua’s Defence of Human Rights Organisation that is working for the cause of missing persons.
Earlier, the SFPT had also filed cases against some TV channels for maligning the judiciary. In the recent petition SFPT through its counsel Tariq Asad Advocate had adopted before the IHC that PTI’s sit-in has virtually turned into a musical concert that starts in evening and ends after midnight with performances of top singers and celebrities, besides speeches of the leaders.
The petitioner maintained that it seems the trick manages to attract larger crowds during the evening as the perverted people visit the rally venue along with their families for fun and entertainment.
“A large number of participants are male and female teenagers who are not even registered voters but come to the venue with friends to enjoy an evening of fun. The rally has provided a good recreational opportunity to the perverted residents of city,” added the petitioner.
The petitioner alleged that some private TV channels are telecasting those dances of girls and boys in such an immoral and obscene way that it is injuring the feelings of the citizens of Pakistan. He adopted that in the protest there has been girls dancing that is promoting obscenity among the youth.
Therefore, he had prayed to the court that it may restrain Imran Khan from conducting live music shows in sit-in at D-Chowk and direct respondents private TV channels from telecasting such programmes on their TV channels.
However, the IHC bench disposed of this matter while calling it wastage of court’s time.