PHC moved for restoration of KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has been moved for restoration of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly that was dissolved four months ago.

The KP Assembly was dissolved in mid-January and a caretaker setup has been installed in the province for over four months now. Lawyer Saifullah Kakakhel filed the plea, on behalf of Muhammad Furqan Qazi, stating the people of the province have been deprived of representation in the absence of the assembly.

He argued that the former chief minister had recommended to the governor to dissolve the assembly after the directives of his party chief Imran Khan. He said Imran Khan had also admitted recently that he was also asked by someone else to dissolve the assemblies.

The counsel asked the court to restore the assemblies as there seems to be no signs of elections while people of the province needed representation in the house. He asked that after restoration, the party in majority should be asked to elect the chief minister and cabinet members to run the affairs of the province. Last month, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had also moved the Peshawar High Court for conducting early elections of the KP Assembly.

A petition filed by former speaker Mushtaq Ghani on March 24 challenged the announcement by governor KP Ghulam Ali and a notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan on March 27 on conducting elections of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on October 8. It requested the court to direct the KP governor and Election Commission of Pakistan to announce a schedule for early polls and cancel the notification regarding conducting elections on October 8.

The writ petition stated that elections cannot be delayed due to law and order or financial challenges as in such cases every government will use it as an excuse to delay polls in future. The KP Governor, Ghulam Ali, in March proposed holding polls for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly on October 8, stating the current law and order situation was not satisfactory. Also, the court was moved by a former PTI MPA against the legality of the caretaker government in the province.