The Peshawar High Court’s examination of emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa moved forward this week, with the province’s Advocate General’s Office directing senior officials to file their replies by November 7 ahead of the next hearing on November 10.
Notices have gone to the provincial governor, the chief secretary, the speaker of the provincial assembly and the secretary of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, who must submit their reports and comments through officers of grade 17 or above. Questions have been raised about how the speaker will file his response, as the provincial government maintains he is currently in protective custody.
The petitions, filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and others, argue that the emergency imposed in some districts and governor’s rule in others is unconstitutional and unlawful. The petitioners say the situation in the province was not beyond the control of the provincial government, which is the test for such extraordinary measures, and they also challenge the calling in of the armed forces under Article 245, arguing that deployment in aid of civil administration falls within the province’s domain.
The measures were imposed on October 11. When the court first heard the petitions on October 20, a two-judge bench of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Muhammad Faheem Wali issued notices to the federal and provincial governments and adjourned the case to November 10. Counsel for the petitioners argued then that an emergency could not be imposed without the provincial assembly’s approval, citing Article 232(1) of the Constitution. The petitions also include pleas from PTI leader Shandana Gulzar, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-Ayin-i-Pakistan.
In a separate matter the same week, a bench of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Inamullah granted interim relief to 23 PTI workers arrested under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, ordering their release on bail. The court also pressed the Mardan deputy commissioner again for a report on the grounds of those detentions, adjourning that hearing to November 12.
Sources: The Express Tribune, 1 November 2026; Daily Pakistan, 20 October 2026; Voicepk, 20 October 2026.
