PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court is now the battleground for a legal showdown following the caretaker government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s decision to include the names of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ministers and assembly members in the Fourth Schedule. The move resulted in the rejection of their nomination papers for the upcoming elections.
Prominent figures from PTI, including Dr. Amjad Ali, Salimur Rehman, Mian Sharaft Ali, Gul Zafar Khan, Anwar Zeib, Humayun Khan, and Fazal Hakeem, have filed petitions challenging the decision. Advocates Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah and Muhammad Adil Khan (Senior) have submitted the pleas on behalf of the aggrieved former assembly members and provincial ministers.
The petitions target the provincial government, Additional Chief Secretary Home, Inspector General of Police (IGP), and the administrations of the respective districts as respondents.
The petitioners argue that they are former Members of Parliament and law-abiding citizens.
They emphasize that the District Intelligence Coordination Committees (DICC) of various districts recommended their inclusion in Schedule IV, leading to the rejection of their nomination papers. The rating officers, acting upon these recommendations, cited the Schedule IV listing as grounds for dismissal.
According to the petitions, the petitioners contend that they are peaceful citizens, and their inclusion in Schedule IV, as recommended by the DICC, is unwarranted. The plea highlights that the DICC’s chairman, the Deputy Commissioner, is the one suggesting their listing in the schedule. It questions the rationale behind labeling peaceful former assembly members as potential security threats.
Furthermore, the petitions challenge the validity of the Schedule IV inclusion, asserting that such designation should only apply to individuals involved in or financing terrorist organizations. The petitioners, being former assembly members, question how they can be categorized as criminals when they have themselves been victims of terrorism in the past.