PESHAWAR: A senior lawyer on Saturday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking the disqualification of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan from holding public office for threatening to use the province’s ‘force’ against the centre during the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s future march on Islamabad.

In the petition, Mohim Khan Afridi said the chief minister’s announcement regarding the use of force against centre was a clear threat to the federation and would harm national unity.

While addressing a lawyers’ convention on May 30, the chief minister had declared that participants of the PTI’s recent march on Islamabad were peaceful but if the centre ordered a crackdown by the Punjab police on party workers during the next march, he would use his province’s ‘force’ to retaliate.

He, however, clarified later that by KP’s force, he meant the PTI workers and not police.

Lawyer challenges Mahmood’s threat to use province’s ‘force’ against centre

The petitioner, who moved the court through senior lawyer Lajbar Khan Khalil, said CM Mahmood Khan had clearly declared that he would take revenge from the federal government and would use the province’s force against it in future.

He added that the chief minister’s announcement, which was widely covered by both print and electronic media, was against the Constitution, law and people’s fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

The petitioner said Mahmood Khan was an MPA elected from Swat and was the chief executive of the province, so his announcement, in that capacity, of confrontation with the federal force deputed to maintain law and order was tantamount to violating the Constitution and the oath of his office.

He contended that the chief minister’s announcement was against the scheme of the federation provided in the Constitution.

“The intended orders of the chief minister were not only illegal but were also meant to make the forces of the federal and provincial government fight with each other in order to fulfill his political gains,” he said.

The petitioner contended that the CM was bound to follow the Constitution as the chief executive of the province.

The respondents in the petition are the CM, provincial chief secretary, home secretary and police chief, the federal government through the secretary of the Cabinet Division, interior secretary, and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority chairman.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2022