The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has taken Peshawar High Court orders on preventive detention of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and workers to the Federal Constitutional Court. The High Court had set aside detentions ordered under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance—often called 3 MPO, a law used for short-term custody without a regular criminal trial—and directed that those people not be arrested. Petitions against those rulings, filed through the provincial chief secretary, have now been scheduled for hearing.
A bench led by Federal Constitutional Court Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan will hear the applications. The move follows the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after which the High Court granted the detention relief that the provincial administration now seeks to overturn.
What the petitions cover
According to sources, the petitions filed so far concern 51 PTI workers. The names cited include Ehsan, Haq Nawaz Khan, Sadrur Rehman, Fazlullah, Imran Saeed, Muhammad Idrees, Salman, Khan Nawab, Fida Muhammad, Bakht Karam, Izharullah, Amjad Ali, Jamshed Ali, Muhammad Ashfaq, Fazl Jahan, Dawood Khan, Saeedur Rehman, Inamullah, Asghar Munir, Adil, Hazrat Ali, Hanif Akhtar, Ghulamullah, Taimoor, Naseer, Mubashir Shah, Muhammad Akmal, Ajmal Shah, Hayat Khan, Sajjad, Niaz Muhammad, Abdul Wahab, Gul Badshah, Fazl Karim, Raja Liaquat Zaman, Munir Khan Jadoon, Muhammad Numan, Syed Fahim Shah, Malik Haris, Kashif Khan, Daniyal, Zebaan Khan, Rashid Babar, Dilbar Khan, Muhammad Jahangir, Naveed Shahzad and others.
The core dispute is whether the High Court's nullification of 3 MPO detentions—and its direction not to arrest those named—should stand, or whether the provincial executive under the present arrangement can restore the earlier custody orders.
Further challenges indicated
Sources separately said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government formed under governor's rule also intends to approach the Federal Constitutional Court over Peshawar High Court decisions that set aside detentions and cancelled bail for about 150 more PTI workers. That step, if filed, would widen the same legal contest beyond the first batch of 51 names.
No date for the first hearing was given in the material available, and the Federal Constitutional Court has not yet publicly stated how it will decide the petitions. Until then, the High Court's relief remains the last judicial word on those detentions, subject to whatever the higher court rules.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ki hukumat ne Peshawar High Court ke us faisle ko Federal Constitutional Court mein challenge kiya hai jisme PTI ke logon ki 3 MPO ke tehat nazar bandi khatam ki gayi thi. Ab Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan ki bench is case ki sunwai karegi. Abhi tak 51 workers ke mamle court mein gaye hain, aur sources ke mutabiq lagbhag 150 aur ke liye bhi challenge ki taiyari hai. Aam logon ke liye yeh mamla yeh batata hai ke nazar bandi aur bail ke faisle ab upar wali adalat mein doosri dafa jaanche jayenge.
