- Achakzai, Nasir Abbas move FCC through advocate Moazzam Butt.
- Petition urges govt to disclose whereabouts of detained lawmakers.
- Dialogues only way to save “sinking boat”, says Allama Nasir Abbas.
National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Senate Opposition Leader Raja Nasir Abbas on Saturday jointly filed a petition before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), seeking the immediate release of the dysfunctional Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and eight other parliamentarians.
The PTI-backed chief minister and other lawmakers had been taken into preventive custody hours before the federal government imposed governor’s rule and emergency in KP on October 11.
In their petition, the opposition leaders argued that keeping elected representatives in custody amounts to rendering the public mandate ineffective.
“Targeting them on the basis of political affiliation violates Articles 4, 14, 17 and 25 of the Constitution,” read the petition.
The plea also demands that the government disclose their “legal status and place of detention”.
It argues that extraordinary powers under Articles 232, 234 and 245 do not override fundamental rights.
The imposition of governor’s rule, it says, does not end fundamental rights, and government actions remain subject to judicial review by the FCC.
According to the petition, incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan had tasked Achakzai and Nasir Abbas with holding talks with the government. It adds that state machinery cannot be used to suppress political dissent or to neutralise elected representatives.
The petitioners asked the court to have all affected lawmakers produced before it and to examine the legal justification for their detention.
They also urged the court to order the immediate release of all detained elected representatives.
Separately, speaking with Geo News, Nasir Abbas said they had approached the Peshawar court and asked it to disclose the whereabouts of suspended KP CM Sohail Afridi and the provincial assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati.
“The only way to save the sinking boat is dialogue and implementation of the Constitution,” he said.
“Even now, political parties will have to sit together and decide,” he added. “The only way forward is for everyone to think together about getting out of these problems.”
