A habeas corpus petition has been filed in the Federal Constitutional Court seeking the recovery of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, PTI provincial president and MNA Junaid Akbar, along with other elected representatives and party workers.
The constitutional petition was filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Shandana Gulzar Khan.
The development comes after the Peshawar High Court was restrained by the Federal Constitutional Court from proceeding with certain constitutional petitions filed under Article 199 of the Constitution.
On November 5, a two-member bench of the Federal Constitutional Court, headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprising Justice Aamer Farooq, ruled that proceedings instituted before the Peshawar High Court under Article 199 on or after October 12 would remain suspended under Article 245(4) of the Constitution.
The order was linked to the deployment of armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to act in aid of civil power following the imposition of emergency and Governor’s Rule in the province on October 11.
Following the FCC’s order, the Peshawar High Court removed petitions seeking the recovery of Sohail Afridi, Babar Saleem Swati and Junaid Akbar from its cause list and directed petitioners to approach the appropriate legal forum.
Earlier, on November 3, a Peshawar High Court bench had referred petitions concerning the alleged detention of the PTI leaders to the chief justice for the constitution of a larger bench after government officials failed to submit their replies.
The fresh petition before the Federal Constitutional Court seeks judicial intervention for the recovery of the missing PTI leaders and elected representatives.
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