IHC seeks K-P officials' affidavits over PTI march

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday sought affidavits from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary and the province's inspector general of police (IG) over the PTI proposed long march on September 27, directing both officials to appear before the court at the next hearing on Monday. A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Azam Khan and Justice Muhammad Asif, was hearing a petition filed by citizen Waqas Ahmed against the PTI's September 27 protest and long march. During the hearing, K-P Advocate General Shah Faisal challenged the maintainability of the petition and raised a preliminary objection to the IHC's jurisdiction, arguing that the court's authority was confined to the federal capital under the IHC Act. "The first point that needs to be examined is the jurisdiction of this court," he said, arguing that the IHC could not issue directions to Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and K-P because the law specifically mentions that the court's jurisdiction is limited to Islamabad. Faisal said the IHC had previously declined to hear cases where it lacked jurisdiction. He also questioned whether the petitioner was an aggrieved party and urged the court to hear arguments from the other side before deciding the jurisdiction issue. Faisal further argued that PTI had not been made a party to the petition despite the case concerning its proposed protest and long march. He asked: "If the party has not been made a party, how will it submit its response?" The court sought rejoinder arguments and directed the K-P chief secretary and police chief to appear along with their affidavits on Monday. It clarified that officials from the other provinces would not be required to appear at the next hearing before adjourning further proceedings until Monday.