PESHAWAR: Around 290 members of the Pakistan Qaumi Razakars organisation of Peshawar have challenged in the Peshawar High Court their removal from service by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, requesting to declare two orders in this regard as illegal and unconstitutional.

A petition was filed in the high court by Ajmal Khan and others, requesting for their reinstatement.

The petitioners have also urged the court to issue directives to the government for releasing the outstanding amount of their pay and allowances for the duty they performed during Covid-19 pandemic and other related activities.

The respondents in the petition include KP IGP, Peshawar capital city police officer, KP DIG (operations), Peshawar SSP (operations), KP chief secretary and Peshawar deputy commissioner.

Petitioners also seek release of outstanding pay and allowances

The petitioners have challenged two impugned notifications issued on June 22 and Sept 15, 2020.

The petition, filed through advocate Abbas Khan Sangeen, states that the petitioners were appointed from time to time in Pakistan Qaumi Razakars (PQR) organisation by the government under the PQR Ordinance, 1965, and the rules framed as West Pakistan Qaumi Razakars Rules, 1966.

The petitioners state that after working for many years in the organisation they have been removed from service by the DIG (operations) and SSP (operations) without assigning them any reason. They state that they requested the authorities to reconsider their decision, but to no avail. They contend that the impugned orders were illegal and arbitrary in nature, hence not tenable in the eyes of law.

They contend that the organisation of PQR is run under the PQR Ordinance, 1965, and the PQR Rules, 1966, wherein it has been specifically provided that the constitution and other related affairs such as dismissal, etc is the domain of deputy commissioner of the concerned district, but in the present case the DIG and SSP have exercised the powers, which were not vested in them and they had thus violated the law.

They state that the law provides that the Qaumi Razakars should perform such duties in connection with the maintenance of law and order, public security and natural calamities as may be prescribed.

The petitioners contend that they belong to poor families and they are crossing the age limit required for recruitment elsewhere. They complained that they were not treated in a fair manner, which was a violation of Article 10-A of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2020