PHC refers Sohail Afridi detention case to chief justice for larger bench

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has referred a case pertaining to detention of the non-functional chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, provincial lawmakers and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers to the chief justice for its placement before a larger bench, the party said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the PTI said the case was taken up by a two-member bench comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Faheem Ali. The proceedings concerned individuals detained on October 11 and earlier, including Afridi, Provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, Junaid Akbar Khan, Dr Amjad Khan, Dr Amjad Ali, Ikram Ghazi and Iqbal Afridi, along with other members of the provincial and national assemblies and youth wing leaders and party workers.

The party said the bench had directed the authorities to submit a report on the detention by October 30. However, the governor’s administration failed to comply with the order, while the governor’s advocate general sought a further three days to submit the report instead of presenting it before the court on Tuesday.

The PTI also criticised the court for fixing the matter after 13 days despite what it described as the seriousness of the case. It said the court had referred the matter to the chief justice for placement before a larger bench instead of taking further action.

The party alleged that the governor and his administration were disregarding court orders and accused the court of repeatedly delaying proceedings in the case.