Peshawar High Court refers Sohail Afridi recovery case to chief justice for larger bench
The Peshawar High Court has referred petitions over the whereabouts of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and other detained leaders to the chief justice, asking for a larger bench to hear the case.
The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday referred petitions concerning the whereabouts of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and other detained leaders to the chief justice, asking for a larger bench to hear the case.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Muhammad Faheem Wali heard the petitions and said the matter should be placed before a larger bench. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Sanaullah and the petitioners’ counsel, Advocate Bashir Khan Wazir, appeared before the court.
The petitions concern Afridi, former provincial assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati, MNA Junaid Akbar and other lawmakers and party workers detained around the time emergency and governor’s rule were imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 11 October, bringing the PTI-led provincial government to an end and transferring its powers to Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.
Afridi’s brother, Muhammad Aamir, filed a constitutional petition in the high court on 13 October, claiming that armed and masked men had allegedly abducted Afridi from the Chief Minister’s House on 11 October. The petition asked the court to order his recovery and production, to investigate the alleged incident, and to preserve relevant records, including CCTV footage.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the petitioners’ counsel told the court that Afridi and Swati had been missing for several days, and said the governor and his advisers had confirmed that the chief minister, the speaker and Junaid Akbar were in protective custody. He also referred to an immunity bill passed by the provincial assembly concerning the speaker and assembly members, arguing that the chief minister, speaker and other lawmakers could not be arrested in this manner.
Justice Arshad Ali pressed the advocate general on why an earlier court order had not been implemented. He observed that the matter concerned the province’s chief minister and assembly speaker, who were not ordinary personalities, and said the case could not be treated as a routine matter under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
The court declared the advocate general’s response unsatisfactory, noting that the government had been given 10 days to submit its response but had still failed to comply with the court’s directions. The advocate general sought further time, saying information had been requested from the police, law enforcement agencies and the Home Department, and pointed out that more than 200 cases had been registered under the public order law.
Justice Arshad Ali remarked during the hearing that the chief minister was missing and that the Home Department should have all information about him. He warned that if the government maintained the same attitude, the case would be referred to a larger bench, before the bench formally sent the matter to the chief justice.
The advocate general also supported the proposal for a larger bench, telling the court it was the government’s request too that such a bench be constituted. That rare point of agreement between the two sides underlines how sensitive the case has become, touching on the detention of elected office-holders and the authority of the courts to compel answers from the executive.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan welcomed the referral, saying the disappearance of the chief minister and assembly speaker was unusual and expressing gratitude that the high court had sent the matter to the chief justice. The party has criticised the handling of the case, including the time taken to fix it for hearing, and has alleged that the governor’s administration has disregarded court orders.
The case now rests with the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, who will decide the composition of the larger bench and when it will hear the petitions. Until that bench sits, the central questions remain unanswered: where exactly Afridi, Swati and the others are being held, on what legal basis, and when the government will produce the report the court has already demanded.
The outcome could have significance well beyond the individual petitions. A larger bench ruling on the detention of a former chief minister and a speaker, in the shadow of emergency and governor’s rule, is likely to shape how similar cases are handled, and how far the courts are willing to go when the executive is slow to answer.
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