ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The PTI has asked the Federal Constitutional Court to review its November 5 order on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s petitions against the emergency and governor’s rule in the province.
The petition, filed by party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, asks the court to make him and the other applicants parties to the proceedings and to give them a chance to present their case before the matter goes any further.
It argues that the November 5 order affected constitutional petitions pending before the Peshawar High Court on the same issues. The petition also seeks relief for the province’s chief minister and the speaker of the provincial assembly through the cases challenging the emergency and governor’s rule, including their release.
How the cases moved
The Peshawar High Court struck petitions against the emergency and governor’s rule off its cause list in the days after the constitutional court’s order. The constitutional court had earlier barred the high court from hearing cases linked to the preventive detention of workers of the PTI.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the advice imposing the emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11. A federal minister later said governor’s rule would end after six months, while the emergency would stay until peace returns.
The PTI-led provincial government was removed when governor’s rule was imposed. A Peshawar anti-terrorism court this week reissued arrest warrants for Sohail Afridi, the former chief minister, in the Radio Pakistan attack case.
The constitutional court has not yet said when it will hear the review petition.
