FCC suspends Peshawar High Court cases filed after Oct 12 in K-P
The Federal Constitutional Court has suspended Peshawar High Court proceedings in Article 199 cases filed on or after October 12. The order follows the deployment of armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to aid civil power.
- FCC suspended Peshawar High Court Article 199 proceedings filed on or after October 12
- The order affects challenges to MPO detention of hundreds of PTI workers
- The K-P Advocate General must report within seven days on areas where troops are no longer needed
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has suspended proceedings before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in cases filed under Article 199 of the Constitution on or after October 12, The Express Tribune reported. The suspension follows the deployment of armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to aid civil power.
The order affects challenges to preventive detention under the MPO of hundreds of PTI workers. A two-judge FCC bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and including Justice Aamir Farooq issued a four-page order while hearing a petition by the K-P government against PHC interim orders directing the release of detainees.
The court directed the K-P Advocate General to submit a report within seven days identifying areas where armed forces are no longer needed to aid civil power. The court may modify its order after reviewing the report. The order relies on an Article 245 order dated 11 October 2026 and a Ministry of Defence office memorandum dated 12 October 2026. Notices were also issued to the respondents and to the Attorney General for Pakistan under Order XXVII-A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
The Advocate General argued that the PHC disregarded Article 245 by entertaining petitions after the troop deployment on October 12. He said that under clause (3) of Article 245 the PHC cannot exercise Article 199 jurisdiction in areas where armed forces are aiding civil power. He also argued that the PHC made the MPO redundant and granted final relief at the interim stage.
The FCC said these points required serious consideration. It observed that, prima facie, clause (3) of Article 245 is not an ouster clause like Article 236(2). It said the restriction on judicial jurisdiction remains in force as long as armed forces continue to aid civil power.
Lawyers reacted to the order. Barrister Sarwar Muzaffar Shah said: "It has suspended the implementation of all fundamental rights in the entire province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," and added that the MPO cases mainly concerned Article 10. He also said: "Even military dictators of the past could not achieve what today's order of the FCC has achieved." He said the order could help the government argue that the PHC is barred from hearing petitions on the alleged disappearance of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.
Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii linked the federal government's measures against the K-P government, saying: "Emergency with governor rule on top, followed shortly thereafter by the governor asking the army to act in aid of civil power under article 245." Advocate Maha Raja Tareen compared the order to the doctrine of necessity, and lawyer Hafiz Ehsaan Ahmad Khokhar said it raises substantial constitutional questions.
Why it matters for Pakistan
The order affects people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held under the MPO preventive detention law, including hundreds of PTI workers whose cases were before the Peshawar High Court. Their petitions filed after October 12 are suspended while armed forces aid civil power. Families and lawyers of detainees, and anyone planning to file Article 199 petitions in the province, are directly affected.
