Imran Khan's party, allied group slam emergency, governor's rule in KP

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party and an allied political group on Tuesday criticised the emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, calling them an attack on democracy.Speaking to the media after a court hearing, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, General Secretary Salman Akram Raja and Balochistan-based Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said they had challenged the emergency and governor's rule in court and wanted the political and constitutional dispute to be resolved through the judiciary.
The development comes a day after PTI filed an amended petition in the Peshawar High Court, challenging the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on constitutional grounds.The amended petition, filed by party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, argued that declaring an emergency without a provincial assembly resolution violated constitutional requirements. The amended petition was filed days after both houses of Pakistan's Parliament approved resolutions endorsing the emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province where Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in power. The PTI chairman maintained that the first proviso to Article 232(1) of the Constitution requires a resolution from the provincial assembly to impose an emergency in a province. Barrister Khan also urged the court to declare the imposition of emergency without the provincial assembly's resolution unconstitutional. The petition further argued that subsequent approval by the National Assembly, Senate or a joint sitting of Parliament could not substitute for the constitutionally required resolution of the provincial assembly.
PTI chairman had earlier moved the Peshawar High Court challenging the emergency and sought to reinstate former chief minister Sohail Afridi and his cabinet.The earlier petition had also challenged the formation of an Advisory Council and the deployment of the armed forces in the province. The federal government has defended the move, citing the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent months. According to media reports, the ruling regime in Islamabad has arrested 278 members of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. PTI has described the move as undemocratic and called it an attempt by Pakistan’s federal government to seize power.