Peshawar High Court Gives Authorities Two Days to Explain Sohail Afridi’s Detention and Adjourns the Governor’s Rule Petition Until November 10

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has stepped into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa crisis. On Tuesday it issued notices to the federal government, the attorney-general, the police and other authorities on the plea seeking the recovery of deposed chief minister Sohail Afridi, giving them two days to file a formal response, and adjourned PTI’s main petition against the emergency and governor’s rule in the province until November 10.

“Where is Afridi?” the court asks

Hearing the recovery plea, Justice Syed Arshad Ali asked the obvious question out loud: where is Afridi? Counsel for the petitioner told the court he had been detained after the imposition of the emergency and governor’s rule, and that reports placed him at the Shahi Mehman Khana, the state guest house, at one of two possible locations. After hearing the arguments, the court directed the authorities to submit their reply within two days. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has previously said Afridi is in protective custody and in “safe hands” — an assurance the petitioners are plainly not willing to take on trust.

What the main petition wants struck down

A second bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Faheem Wali, heard the main petition filed by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. It asks the court to declare unconstitutional and set aside the presidential proclamation of October 11, the imposition of the emergency and governor’s rule, and the orders deploying the military. Counsel argued that the Constitution requires a resolution of the provincial assembly before an emergency can be imposed, and that governor’s rule had been enforced across the whole province even though the situation in Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan had improved.

Gohar speaks outside the courtroom

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Barrister Gohar alleged that the elected provincial government had been removed on the pretext of fighting terrorism. He said 12 PTI members of the National Assembly and 14 members of the provincial assembly were in detention, and demanded the immediate release of Afridi and the other lawmakers. Salman Akram Raja and Mahmood Khan Achakzai also called governor’s rule an attack on provincial autonomy and vowed to continue peaceful resistance within the bounds of the Constitution and the law.