PESHAWAR — PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Tuesday renewed his party’s challenge to the emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, telling reporters outside the Peshawar High Court that PTI has “from day one” called the measures unconstitutional — and rejecting the suggestion that the province had backed terrorism.
“We have condemned terrorism in every form, in every place,” Gohar said in the media talk. “Everyone must fight the war against terrorism together. But to use that as a cover to accuse a province of backing terrorism — we reject that allegation.”
A two-member PHC bench — Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Faheem Wali — heard the petitions filed by Gohar and Advocate Salman Khan seeking to have the measures declared unconstitutional, and issued a notice to the Attorney General’s office before adjourning the hearing until Nov. 10, according to wire reporting of the proceedings.
Gohar said PTI had asked the court to constitute a larger bench and hear the case at the earliest date, and that petitions by other figures, including Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and PTI leader Shandana Gulzar, were also before the court.
The federal government imposed the emergency and governor’s rule on Oct. 11, citing rising terrorism incidents and what it described as the provincial government’s lack of support for counterterrorism operations. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has since run the province with an 11-member advisory council.
In court, Gohar argued that the emergency, governor’s rule, the advisory council and the transfer of 38 deputy commissioners all came on the same day, and alleged that PTI lawmakers had been abducted and party offices demolished, according to the hearing coverage.
Read Zark News’ earlier coverage: PTI Takes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency Fight to Peshawar High Court as Hearing Opens
Video: Zark News
