Bar associations have condemned the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association decided on Monday to challenge the proclamation in the Supreme Court through a constitutional petition.
Eight members of the Pakistan Bar Council asked the president to withdraw the proclamation at once and restore the province's democratically elected government. They said the president had acted on the advice of the prime minister and the cabinet, and they called that step unlawful under the Constitution.
Why lawyers say the proclamation is unlawful
The eight members said Article 232, the provision for an emergency when internal disturbance is beyond a provincial government's control, requires a resolution of the provincial assembly. They said the assembly had passed no resolution of that kind. They said that without it the proclamation did not meet the article.
On Article 234, they said governor's rule is permitted only when a province cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution. They maintained that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and its assembly were both still performing their functions. They asked the president to respect provincial autonomy.
The Islamabad High Court Bar Association, in a statement issued by its secretary, said governor's rule struck at the public mandate, at democratic values and at provincial autonomy. The association said it would resist any use of administrative power to override the public will. It said Pakistan's constitutional system rests on the supremacy of the Constitution, parliamentary democracy and provincial autonomy, and that exceptional powers should not be turned against an elected government.
Supreme Court petition and a court boycott
The Lahore decision was taken at a joint general house meeting, which also expressed concern over the country's constitutional and political situation. A resolution adopted unanimously said the proclamation would be tested on constitutional and legal principles so that a court could examine whether it is lawful. The house said the case should protect the Constitution, the rule of law, democracy and provincial autonomy.
At a general body meeting, the Karachi Bar Association demanded that the federal government lift the emergency and restore the provincial government. President Aamir Nawaz Warraich said, "If we do not take a stand today, a stage will come when we will be unable to do anything." He called the emergency a first step towards martial law.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council described the emergency under Articles 232 and 234 as an extraordinary constitutional measure. It announced a black day on Tuesday and said lawyers would boycott court proceedings and refrain from appearing in courts.
Arrests condemned by lawyers
The All Pakistan Lawyers Action Committee condemned the proclamation in the province and the arrests of the elected chief minister and parliamentarians. Chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd's statement also condemned the arrests of chief minister Sohail Afridi, described in the statement as non-functional, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf provincial president Junaid Akbar, and other members of parliament.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mein emergency lag gayi hai aur governor ko sooba chalane ka ikhtiyar de diya gaya hai. Lawyers kehte hain ke assembly ne ijaazat nahi di aur yeh dastoor ke khilaf hai. Lahore ki bar associations Supreme Court mein darkhwast denge. Aaj soobe ke lawyers adalat nahi jayenge, is liye logon ke cases ruk sakte hain.
