ISLAMABAD: As many as 11 union council (UC) chairmen in the federal capital have filed petitions with Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking directions to the federal government as well as the PTI to keep the November 2 protest nonviolent and peaceful.

The UC chairmen, mostly affiliated with the ruling party, from Sectors G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-13, I-9 and the suburbs of Islamabad, filed the petitions through their counsel Chaudhry Naeem Ali Gujjar, who is also the chairman of the G-7 sector union council.

The IHC institution office on Saturday cleared eight of the 11 petitions for an initialhearing as these were filed within the court timing.

However, as per advocate Gujjar, the three petitions would also be taken up along with the eight petitions on Monday.

The crux of the petitions was the same as that of the four petitions filed on October 27 on which Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui ordered the PTI to confine its protest at Democracy Park and Speech Corner at Parade Ground near Sports Complex Islamabad.

However, the new petitions quoted the death of a newborn baby due to teargas fired by the Rawalpindi police on the protesters belonging to the PTI and Sheikh Rashid`s Awami Muslim League in Rawalpindi on Friday.

The petitioners expressed the fear that if the protest was mishandled by either the government or the PTI, the local residents would face the consequences.

The petitions requested the court to direct the capital administration, police and the authorities concerned to handle the protest with care. It also requested that the court may direct the parties to ensure that educational institu-tions as well as business centres remained unaffected.

The IHC single-member bench would take up the petitions on October 31.

The bench has already summoned PTI chairman Imran Khan the same day to explain in which capacity he had announced to lock down the federal capital.

Restraining both the government and the PTI from blocking roads, the bench stated that Imran Khan should hold the protest at Democracy Park and Speech Corner at Parade Ground.

Though the court has directed the district administration not to create hurdles in the peaceful protest of the PTI, the police `launched` an operation and arrested scores of workers of the party the same day.

On October 28, the PTI lawyers` forum Islamabad chapter petitioned the IHC against the arrest of their workers. Justice Siddiqui directed the local administration not to harass peaceful political workers and asked the inspector general of Islamabad police to submit a list of the arrested PTI workers.