PESHAWAR: According to Geo News, the Peshawar High Court has fixed October 20 for hearing petitions challenging the imposition of governor's rule and an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and Advocate Salman Khan have filed separate petitions naming the Federation, the president, the prime minister, the KP governor and other authorities as respondents.
The emergency was imposed on October 11 after President Asif Ali Zardari approved the move on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's advice under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. The federal government cited the province's security situation and counterterrorism concerns; PTI, which leads the provincial government, has opposed the measures.
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi is running the province for the Centre with an 11-member technocratic KP Advisory Council. A day earlier, a joint sitting of Parliament approved the presidential proclamations, as the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan announced it was ending talks with the Centre.
In a plea filed through lawyer Ali Zaman, PTI asked the court to declare the emergency and governor's rule unconstitutional. It argued that using terrorism to curtail an elected provincial government was discriminatory, citing the absence of governor's rule in Balochistan despite terrorism and in KP between 2007 and 2015. The party said it supports counterterrorism but alleged the accusations were political pressure, and noted PTI won a two-thirds majority in KP in 2024. More on Geo News.