A Pakistani high court on Tuesday issued notices to the parties concerned over the alleged illegal detention of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and provincial assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, seeking replies within 10 days.
The development comes a week later, when a petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court seeking the immediate recovery of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and clarification regarding his whereabouts.
Several leaders of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), including Afridi, were taken into custody immediately after the emergency was imposed in the northwestern province on October 11 over the deteriorating law and order situation.
A division bench comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed on Tuesday heard the case and directed the respondents to submit their replies within the stipulated period.
The court adjourned further proceedings until October 30.
The petition, filed by the former chief minister’s brother, Muhammad Amir, urged the court to take immediate notice of the matter and order the safe recovery of Afridi.According to the petition, Afridi was allegedly abducted by armed and masked individuals in the presence of the Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO).
The petitioner claimed that the “abduction of an elected chief minister amounted to a serious violation of the Constitution, the law and fundamental human rights”.
The petition further stated that the chief minister’s life and liberty were under serious threat and that his alleged illegal detention violated Articles 4, 9, 10 and 14 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The petitioner sought clarification regarding his whereabouts, the identity of those holding him and the legal authority under which he is allegedly being detained.
A separate petition filed in the Peshawar High Court on Monday by PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan argued that declaring an emergency without a provincial assembly resolution violated constitutional requirements.
According to the petition, Article 232(1) of the Constitution, under which President Asif Ali Zardari proclaimed emergency, requires a resolution from the provincial assembly to impose an emergency in a province
