The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has launched a legal offensive against the emergency and governor’s rule imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, moving the Peshawar High Court to have both measures declared unconstitutional.
A petition was filed in the high court on Monday by Advocate Salman, just a day after the measures took effect. It names President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi as respondents.
The petition argues that the emergency and governor’s rule are unconstitutional, illegal and mala fide, and that they violate fundamental rights, provincial autonomy and the democratic mandate. It asks the court to declare the measures null and void, and to suspend the notification imposing governor’s rule until a final decision is reached.
Separately, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told a press conference outside Parliament that he would personally approach the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday. The party’s parliamentary leadership is also meeting on Tuesday to decide how to oppose the measures inside the assemblies.
Gohar described 11 October — the day the emergency was imposed — as a “black day” for democracy. He claimed more than 1,500 party workers had been detained, along with relatives of the party’s jailed founder, Imran Khan. The party says it will resist through the courts, parliament and peaceful protest.
The government says the measures were imposed under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, citing deteriorating security and the provincial government’s disengagement from counterterrorism operations. The army has been deployed in aid of civil power, and an 11-member technocratic advisory council has been formed to assist the governor, with Fakhr Alam Irfan appointed as chief secretary.
