PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday stopped the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government from placing the names of former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and five other former lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Wiqar Ahmad also asked the government to respond to the petitions of Mr Qaiser, former MNA Junaid Akber and former MPAs Iftikhar Mishwani, Zahir Shah Toru, Shakeel Khan and Liaqat Ali against the Fourth Schedule move by Feb 20.

The petitioners have challenged the home department’s “ongoing process” to place their names in the Fourth Schedule on the recommendations of the administrations of Mardan, Swabi and Malakand districts.

Additional advocate general Danyal Asad Chamkani appeared for the government and said he would submit a report on the matter on behalf of the government.

Advocate Syed Sikander Hayat Shah appeared for the petitioners and said the district intelligence coordination committees in different districts have put forward their recommendations to the respective district administrations asking for placing names of different leaders of the PTI in the Fourth Schedule.

He argued that without any cogent reasons the administration had also now requested the provincial government to place the names in the said schedule.

The lawyer said petitioners were law abiding citizens and former lawmakers. He wondered how they could be involved in terrorism.

He argued that the mechanism for including someone’s name in the Fourth Schedule was clearly pronounced in the Anti-Terrorism Act and names could not be included in the schedule on whimsical grounds.

The counsel said only those having links with terrorist outfits or funding them could be made part of the Fourth Schedule.

He said the names of the petitioners were recommended for inclusion in the schedule merely on the ground that they belonged to the PTI.

The lawyer added that even the district intelligence coordination committees had not provided any legal justification in their recommendations against his clients.

He requested the bench to declare illegal the ongoing proceedings against the petitioners under the ATA and restrain the government from acting on the basis of the recommendations.

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Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2024