Affected shopkeepers: LHC seeks detail of Auqaf land around shrine

The Lahore High Court here Tuesday sought detail of Auqaf land around shrine of Hazrat Baba Farid Ganje Shakar (RA) to accommodate the affected shopkeepers after the closure the shrine gate for security purposes. Earlier, DPO Pakpattan appeared before the court and informed that main gate could not be opened due to security threats.
About displaced shopkeepers, he said they could be accommodated near the South gate of shrine. On it, the court sought detail of the land from Auqaf department. The petitioner advocate Zaheerul Hassan Zahoor submitted that the respondents on July 01 last year closed down the said gate after a suicide attack took place there. Since then, the respondents are keeping the gate closed without realising that it was causing huge problems to the devotees and visitors and financial loss to the hundreds of poor shopkeepers around the gate.
The petitioner said now the devotees have to mount 80 steps to enter the shrine and the exercise is proving equally problematic for the women and the old people. He pointed out that hundreds of the poor shopkeepers who were dealing in small business, around the shrine had lost their business. The petitioner, therefore, prayed to the court to direct the authorities to reopen the main gate.