PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan filed a petition against the KP emergency and governor’s rule on Wednesday in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
His petition asks the court to declare both measures null and void. He requested an early hearing.
Separately, the National Assembly approved the presidential emergency proclamation issued on Sunday for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar defended the decision during Wednesday’s parliamentary proceedings. He said internal disturbances and the provincial government’s lack of seriousness about tackling terrorism had necessitated the emergency. Tarar described it as a last resort to protect lives and property.
Earlier, speaking to journalists outside Parliament, Khan challenged the federal government’s security rationale. He argued that security problems alone could not justify the intervention while other regions faced similar challenges.
Khan questioned why the government had not applied comparable measures in Balochistan and the Katcha areas. He argued that the same security justification should apply elsewhere.
“If you wanted to fight terrorism, you should have strengthened the provincial government,” Khan said.
He accused the federal government of weakening the elected administration and undermining provincial autonomy. He claimed officials refused to cooperate with the provincial leadership.
Khan claimed PTI ministers had been taken into custody and that deputy commissioners and district police officers were ignoring provincial directives. He questioned how a chief minister could govern effectively without cooperation from district administration and police officials.
In his criticism of the intervention, Khan accused the federal government of effectively reviving Article 58(2)(b) of the Constitution. He argued that its actions undermined parliamentary democracy.
That provision formerly allowed the president to dissolve the National Assembly, thereby dismissing the prime minister and federal cabinet. The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment abolished it in 2010.
Khan criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), comparing its position on the KP intervention with its response to Rangers deployments in Sindh. He accused its leaders of adopting a different stance when their own province was affected.
In a separate parliamentary statement on Wednesday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari defended the emergency as constitutional. He blamed PTI’s provincial leadership for the decision and maintained that the government had tried to avoid it. Khan pledged strong PTI protests against the emergency.
(With additional input from Radio Pakistan)
