PTI Chairman Gohar moves PHC against emergency, governor's rule in KP

PESHAWAR: PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Wednesday moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, requesting the court to declare the move unconstitutional. The emergency, declared on Sunday, follows heightened tensions between the PML-N-led federal government and the PTI-led KP government. The Centre and opposition have been at odds over various issues, particularly the counterterrorism policy, which was one of the main reasons cited by both parties behind the breakdown of their Oct 3 talks . Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has assumed the role of running the province on behalf of the Centre, with an 11-member technocratic KP Advisory Council formed to assist him. The federal government has also authorised the deployment of Pakistan Army troops and assets in aid of civil power in KP.

Advocate Shah Faisal Ilyas submitted the petition challenging the emergency proclamation on behalf of the PTI chairman. A copy is available with Dawn . The petitioner requested the PHC to declare the Oct 11 emergency proclamation as “unconstitutional, ultra vires, coram non judice, tainted with malice in law and fact, devoid of objective material, and of no legal effect”; and urged it to set the proclamation aside. Barrister Gohar is represented by a panel of lawyers, including Barrister Sameer Khosa, Salman Akram Raja, Ali Zaman, Sardar Haseeb Ahmad and Zainab Shahid. Filed under Article 199 (jurisdiction of high court) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the petition named the Federation of Pakistan (through the secretaries of the Cabinet, law ministry, interior ministry and defence ministry); the province of KP; KP Governor Kundi; the KP Assembly speaker; and the secretary of the KP Home and Tribal Affairs…