October 1, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 18, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 30: The opposition in the NWFP assembly will file a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court on Monday, requesting it to restrain the chief minister from advising the governor to dissolve the provincial assembly.

The petition, drafted by Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel, will be submitted in the Peshawar High Court in the morning.
The petitioners are: Leader of the Opposition in the NWFP Assembly Shehzada Gustasap, parliamentary leader of PPP (Sherpao) Makhdum Murid Kazim, and MPAs Nighat Orakzai and Saeed Khan.

Mr Kakakhel told Dawn that he would request the court that the petition be fixed for hearing on Oct 2, the day when according to a decision of the All Parties Democratic Movement, the NWFP chief minister would advise the governor to dissolve the provincial assembly under Article 112 of the Constitution.

Besides requesting the High Court to restrain the chief minister from tendering the advice to the governor, the petitioners would also request the court to stop the governor from dissolving the assembly in the event of the chief minister advising him to do so.

“I will try to convince the bench hearing the petition to grant an interim relief to petitioners and restrain the chief minister from taking the unconstitutional step,” said Mr Kakakhel who had in the past successfully contested the case of controversial resignations of MPAs of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal who had been expelled from the party on charges of casting votes against the alliance’s policy in the Senate elections.

The four opposition leaders said that although the chief minister could advise the governor for dissolving the assembly, that advice should be based on solid legal grounds and not on political grounds. They said that any such advice from the chief minister would be based on mala fide intentions and, therefore, should be declared illegal and unconstitutional.