PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan files petition in Peshawar high court

Pakistan's Peshawar High Court has set October 20th for initial hearing on a legal challenge brought by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, asking judges to strike down the emergency imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as unlawful. The filing contests the federal decision to declare an emergency and place Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province under direct governor rule. Pakistan had activated emergency provisions across the province on October 11th, citing provincial administration failure to fully engage in counter-terrorism efforts. The step came after prolonged political friction between the federal authorities and the PTI which had been preparing a major protest march on the capital to press for the release of its imprisoned founder Imran Khan. Earlier attempts at dialogue between the two sides had broken down. In his petition, Gohar has asked the court to rule that the emergency proclamation and governor's rule are unconstitutional beyond legal authority and issued without proper jurisdiction and they are motivated by improper purpose and unsupported by objective evidence and are therefore unlawful. Now, Gohar is also seeking an order quashing the proclamation entirely. The petition maintains that the federal action undermines the country's federal structure, democratic principles, and provincial autonomy. It also notes the absence of any claim of war or external aggression, the usual grounds for such emergency power, and questions the selective application of the terrorism rationale, pointing out that similar security challenges elsewhere have not triggered comparable measures. PTI's key demands include orders for the immediate production of all underlying records and material relied upon by the federal government. It also asked for the release of KPK Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and cabinet members from detention with a ban on further preventive detention or removal of those individuals beyond the court's reach.