The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has referred petitions challenging the alleged detention and disappearance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and several other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders to the chief justice for the formation of a larger bench.
Afridi has not been seen publicly since the imposition of governor’s rule and an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11. His whereabouts remained unknown on the day the measures were announced, while a federal minister confirmed the following day that the chief minister and some members of his cabinet were in preventive custody.
The PTI has also alleged that several of its other members, including lawmakers and provincial ministers, have been detained or arrested. Their whereabouts have not been disclosed by the government.
Several petitions have been filed before the PHC in this regard. On Tuesday, a division bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Muhammad Faheem Wali heard the pleas.
Besides Afridi’s alleged detention, the petitions concern the reported disappearance of KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, Members of the National Assembly Junaid Akbar and Dr Amjid Ali, provincial minister Amjid Ali Khan, MPAs Ikramullah and Aurangzeb Khan, former Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Mohammad Khalid Khursheed and several other PTI leaders.
One of the petitions was filed by Afridi’s brother, Mohammad Aamir, who alleged that the chief minister had been abducted from the Chief Minister House on the night emergency was imposed in the province. He had approached the high court on October 13.
On Tuesday, the bench referred the petitions to the chief justice after the provincial government and senior police officials failed to submit their replies in compliance with the court’s October 20 directives.
“These are not ordinary personalities,” Justice Arshad Ali remarked during the proceedings.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Sanaullah Khan sought three additional days to submit the required responses. He said his office was awaiting reports from the provincial home department, police and other law enforcement agencies.
Representing the petitioners, lawyer Bashir Vazir alleged that the PTI leaders had remained missing for several days. He argued that Article 199 of the Constitution empowered the high court to order the production of Afridi and Assembly Speaker Swati before it.
Vazir also referred to an immunity law passed by the KP Assembly, arguing that its provisions prevented the arrest of assembly members in the manner alleged. He further maintained that the assembly speaker could not be arrested under the law.
According to the lawyer, the legislation stipulated that the speaker would continue to hold office until a successor was elected.
During the hearing, the advocate general referred to more than 200 cases involving detentions under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO), arguing that detention orders had been issued without the cases being heard.
The bench disagreed, observing that reports had been sought from the relevant authorities in those cases but were never submitted. It also noted that the detentions currently under consideration were not related to MPO proceedings.
“This is an important case; the chief minister of the province is missing,” Justice Arshad Ali observed.
The bench said it had already granted the respondents 10 days to file their replies, but they had failed to comply with the order.
“We refer this case to the chief justice to constitute a larger bench,” Justice Arshad Ali said. The advocate general also supported the formation of a larger bench.
