PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday stopped the Election Commission of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and other authorities from taking any “adverse action” against three former PTI lawmakers over the placing of their names in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

A bench consisting of the Chief Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Kahn and Justice Shakeel Ahmad issued the order over a petition jointly filed by former MPAs Shafiullah Khan, Humayun Khan and Liaqat Ali, all from Lower Dir district, challenging the placing of their names in the ATA’s Fourth Schedule.

It ordered the ECP, the relevant concerned district returning officer and returning officers, and home department not to act against the petitioners.

The bench also issued notices to the respondents, including the home department through its secretary, asking them to respond to the petition.

Seeks response in Fourth Schedule case

Advocates Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah and Nasir Naeem Umerkheli appeared for the petitioners and contended that to keep the petitioners, who are leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), out of forthcoming polls the government and its law enforcing agencies had now devised new mechanism by placing their names in the Fourth Schedule.

Mr Hayat contended that his clients came to know that the list issued by the home department of Fourth Schedule also included their names.

He said in the said schedule, the government had to include names of persons suspected of having links with terrorist organisations and were involved in terror financing.

The lawyer argued that the petitioners intended to file their nomination papers for contesting the general elections. He apprehended that the nomination papers of his clients for elections would be rejectedon “technical grounds.”

The counsel said the presence of his clients’ names in the Fourth Schedule would prompt the Lower Dir DPO and deputy commissioner to take action against them.

They said the petitioners remained MPAs for around four years and one of them Shafiullah Khan also served as adviser to the then chief minister.

The lawyers said the petitioners were law-abiding citizens and had never committed any illegal act.

They claimed that through different tactics the government had now been trying to keep the candidates of PTI out of the polls and one of the tactics by them was placing their names in the Fourth Schedule.

The counsel claimed that their clients were earlier charged in different concocted cases on political grounds and were granted bails by the relevant courts.

They requested the bench to issue a stay order in the favour of their clients stopping the ECP, provincial government, DRO, ROs and other officials from acting against them.

Meanwhile, a single-member high court bench granted transit bail to 10 PTI leaders from Kohat in six cases registered against them after holding a workers’ convention there.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali directed the petitioners, including former deputy speaker of the KP Assembly Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, to approach the relevant courts by Dec 26.

The petitioners contended that they organised a peaceful workers’ convention on Dec 10 but the local police registered six “concocted” cases against them in Jarma, cantonment and Mohammad Riaz Shaheed police stations.

Their counsel said the petitioners wanted to approach the relevant court for relief but they feared arrest by the police.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023