KP ‘Action in aid of’ Ordinance: Assistant registrar’s orders challenged in SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was Wednesday requested to entertain a petition, challenging the KP's 'Action in aid of' Ordinance that allows the military to set up internment centers throughout the province.Farhatullah Babar, former senator Afrasiab Khattak, ex-MNA Bushra Gohar and educationist Rubina Saigol filed an appeal with the apex court against the non-maintainability order of the assistant registrar in their petition.They prayed that the order of the assistant registrar (Civil-II) for registrar dated 28.10.2019 may kindly be set aside with a direction to the office to entertain the constitutional petition, allowing it to be filed for hearing.They further prayed that the petition may be heard together with the appeals of the federation and province of KP against the decision of the Peshawar High Court striking down the impugned ordinance. It is pertinent to mention that the assistant registrar on October 28 declared the petition non-maintainable citing reasons, "(a.) That the petitioners have not pointed out that as to which of the Fundamental Rights involving the question of public importance has been violated in the instant case (.b). That Governor KPK has been made party as Respondent No 2, however he cannot be made party under Article 248 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and( c). That the petitioners may approach the proper forum for redress of their grievance.”The appeal against the assistant registrar's order filed on Wednesday said it was "passed without properly appreciating and considering the contents of the petition, the facts of the instant case and without examining the relief prayed for therein, is wrong and liable to be set aside".It said the case clearly involved a matter of public importance and fundamental rights, as the “The Impugned Ordinance provides, inter alia, for detention through internment in KP. It directly impacts any person in, or who may visit KP.”Further, "The Impugned Ordinance is a matter of public importance since it impacts all persons in KP. It extends to the whole Province of KP. Any person in KP (whether belonging to KP or resident in KP or not) is subject to its provisions. It is therefore a matter of public importance because of the scope of its applicability, the appeal added.It said that the assistant registrar had failed to consider the additional relief sought in the petition including regarding immediate publication on official websites of all laws by the federation and the provinces and regarding the justiciability of a direction under Article 245 of the Constitution. The petitioners further submitted that there was no other appropriate forum available for impugning or challenging the impugned ordinance on the touchstone of fundamental rights except for the Supreme Court.They contended that as the apex court had recently suspended the order of the Peshawar High Court until November 15 and directed that the matter be referred to a larger bench given its significance, it appeared therefore that this court had prima facie determined that this was a matter of public importance impacting fundamental rights.

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