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October 16, 2026
Gohar Moves PHC against Emergency, Governor's Rule in KPPeshawar: 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 Center 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 Center, with an 11-member technocratic KP Advisory Council formed to assist him. The federal government has also authorized 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 defense ministry); the province of KP; KP Governor Kundi; the KP Assembly speaker; and the secretary of the KP Home and Tribal Affairs Department as respondents.
Sohail Afridi , the now non-functional chief minister of the province following the imposition of governor’s rule, was also named as a pro forma respondent.
Gohar challenged the “constitutionality, legality and vires” of the Oct 11 Proclamation of Emergency in the province, the order deploying army troops to the province, and “all consequential and derivative executive orders, notifications, and bodies” constituted as a result, including the establishment of the KP Advisory Council and the “arbitrary” detention and unseating of Afridi as the chief minister.
Afridi and some of his cabinet members were taken into preventive custody shortly after the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule, as confirmed by officials on Monday.
The petitioner sought further declaration from the PHC that Paragraph (3) of the proclamation, which purported to direct that the KP CM and ministers cease to hold office, was “illegal, ultra vires the Constitution, and in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 4, 9, 17(2), 25 and 130”.
He requested that the court order the immediate constitutional restoration of Afridi as the lawful chief minister of KP, along with his provincial cabinet, with full executive powers vested under Article 130 (the cabinet) of the Constitution.
The PHC was further requested to declare that Paragraph (2) of the proclamation — transferring the legislative powers of the KP Assembly to Parliament in the absence of a prior resolution passed by the assembly as required under Article 232(1) — was “void ab initio and an unconstitutional usurpation of provincial autonomy”.
The plea also urged PHC to restrain the federation from “tabling, entertaining, or enacting any provincial legislative business concerning Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Parliament”.
The petitioner requested the court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional and to set aside, dissolve or permanently restrain all executive orders, notifications, actions, and bodies created “pursuant to or under the color of” the proclamation. - Dawn
Courtesy Dawn
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