Peshawar High Court to Hear Petitions Challenging KP Emergency and Governor's Rule

A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Mohammad Faheem Wali, is set to hear seven constitutional petitions challenging the Oct 11 presidential proclamation that placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under emergency and governor’s rule. The principal petitioner, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, seeks court permission to file an amended petition that would also contest the National Assembly and Senate resolutions of Oct 14 and the joint parliamentary resolutions of Oct 15 that approved the proclamation.

Additional filings come from TTAP leaders Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Raja Nasir Abbas, Balochistan National Party (Mengal) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Sindh United Party president Zainul Abideen, and National Democratic Movement presidents Mohsin Dawar and Bushra Gohar, among others. Petitioners argue that the resolutions and the subsequent statutory regulatory order lack legal authority and should be nullified, requesting a suspension of the order’s operation.

The federal government justified the emergency by accusing the provincial administration of deliberately abandoning the fight against terrorism, amid ongoing political tension with PTI. Legal teams include Barrister Sameer Khosa and several other counsel.