PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC) on Saturday declared the imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in the province unconstitutional and undemocratic, and announced a province-wide strike on Oct 19 (Monday).

The council also announced it would file a constitutional petition in the Peshawar High Court against the ‘illegal’ move.

The council demanded that the dysfunctional Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and the Provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati be produced before the court concerned or released.

It also condemned the alleged illegal detention of a senior lawyer and leader of Insaf Lawyers Forum, Ameer Ijaz, and demanded his immediate release.

The council decided to convene a meeting of the presidents of all district and tehsil bar associations of the province on Oct 24 to decide future course of action against the imposition of emergency.

KPBC Vice-Chairman Asfandyar Khan and its Executive Committee Chairman Malik Imad Azam made the announcements during a press conference after a general body meeting on Saturday.

Mr Khan said the council constituted a lawyers’ panel to file a constitutional petition in the High Court against the imposition of emergency in the province, so that the court could hear it, along with other petitions on the matter, on Oct 20.

He said the meeting condemned the imposition of the governor’s rule and emergency in the province as an ‘illegal’ step.

He said the legal fraternity would observe a strike across the province on Oct 19 and would avoid appearing in cases.

The KPBC vice-chairman said that if the chief minister and the provincial assembly speaker had committed any crime, they should be produced in court; otherwise they should be released.

Mr Khan said a committee had been formed to prevent lawyers’ harassment, adding that the body would take up the issue with the governor and the police chief.

He asked the law enforcement agencies, including the police, to avoid conducting ‘illegal’ raids at the residences of lawyers in the aftermath of the emergency in the province.

The council expressed concern over the ‘illegal detention’ of Ameer Ijaz Advocate and asked the LEAs to set him free.

Unidentified persons in Mardan allegedly kidnapped the lawyer around a month ago. Since then, his whereabouts are unknown, and his colleagues suspect he may have been taken away by LEAs.

On this occasion, Mr Azam declared the imposition of emergency and the governor’s rule unconstitutional and undemocratic.

He said representatives of all lawyers’ organisations attended the bar council’s meeting.

The KPBC Executive Committee chairman asked the federal government to avoid adventurism in the province.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026