'Lack of toilet facilities for marchers could cause diseases'.

Byline: Kalbe Ali and Kashif Abbasi

ISLAMABAD -- With the civic authorities, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and local Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chapter seemingly uninterested in providing hygienic toilet facilities for participants of the Azadi March, environmentalists have warned that open defecation in the heart of the city could lead to the spread of diseases, including polio.

Staff and officials of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and the ICT administration are busy levelling and preparing the ground for the gathering, but there are no toilet arrangements at the venue.

'The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given the administration directives to facilitate the participants of the Azadi March by providing them basic human needs. This includes food and restrooms,' JUI-F spokesperson Mufti Shafiur Rehman said.

'We have told the ICT administration to establish toilets on the south side of Kashmir Highway and they are doing it,' he added.

Like the officials, a team from the JUI-F was also present at the venue in H-9. They observed that there were two natural streams in the area, including Nullah Leh coming from the Margalla Hills towards Rawalpindi, and one of the local JUI-F leaders also noted that there was an open area on one side of the ground that would suffice for participants' sanitary needs.

The JUI-F's application for the Azadi March to the IHC had said that around 6,000 toilets would be required for participants.

However, senior MCI...

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