PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has declared that a caretaker government is duty-bound to be impartial to political parties and if it favours any party, that act will be a violation of its constitutional and legal mandate.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmad has observed that a caretaker government was supposed to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold free and fair elections in the country.

“Where the purpose of the appointment of the caretaker setup is to govern the country till such time free and fair elections are held as such, it is their bounden duty to be impartial to political parties of this country,” it declared.

“Favouring one party in any manner in the matter of campaign or prohibiting any political party would raise an eyebrow over the impartiality of such caretaker set up and in fact they would be violating the mandate for which they have been appointed for the interregnum period. Such impartiality should stem out of their actions while dealing with the members of different political parties,” it ruled.

Court issues detailed verdict on PTI petitions against ‘restrictions’ on its poll campaign

The bench made these observations in its 12-page detailed judgement delivered in two almost identical petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders, who accused the government of stopping its leaders and workers from canvassing in the province, including the holding of rallies and gatherings, for the forthcoming general polls.

It had disposed of the petitions on Oct 26 observing that it was expected that the district administration should perform their legal obligations strictly in accordance with law, since they were bound by the Constitution of the country and the Elections Acts, 2017, and any of their actions, which militated against the law, couldn’t be countenanced in any manner.

“We would not comment on the merits of the case but would observe that so far there is no ban on the political party in question nor there is any law prohibiting them from exercising their constitutional right of forming associations or public meetings subject to restrictions as contained in the Act (Elections Act),” it observed.

The bench added that as there was no ban on activities of political parties, they were at liberty to start their campaigns for the upcoming elections.

“It is, however, clarified that before any such function or gathering, they [political parties] are required to seek permission of the deputy commissioner concerned, who is bound by the law to allow such permission subject to reasonable restrictions as provided for the public peace and public order,” it declared.

The court observed that the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017, had mandated the caretaker government to perform the day-to-day affairs of the government until general elections were held.

One of the petitions was jointly filed by PTI provincial president Ali Amin Gandapur and provincial legal coordinator Mashal Azam and Insaf Lawyers Forum provincial vice-president Malik Arshad Ahmad, while the other petitioner was Insaf Lawyers Forum leader Ali Zaman.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the provincial chief secretary and other respondents to allow PTI members to conduct campaigns for their election candidates.

They claimed that around 75 applications were given by the party to district administrations across the province for holding public meetings but none of them were accepted.

Lawyers Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Inam Yousafzai and Arshad Ahmad appeared for the petitioners, whereas advocate general Aamir Javed and additional advocate general Danyal Khan Chamkani represented the provincial government.

The AG told the bench that though there was no “declared or undeclared” prohibition of the provincial or federal government on the PTI’s political activities, there were certain requirements of the law that had to be observed before the holding of any procession and public meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023