PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday put off hearing into a petition against the federal government’s ban on the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), directing the counsel for the rights movement to justify the maintainability of the plea.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah also directed the federal government to inform the PTM within three days about the grounds for ban on it under Section 11-B of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

It fixed Oct 15 for next hearing into the petition filed by PTM member Masoom Shah for declaring the interior ministry’s Oct 6 notification of ban illegal.

The petitioner also sought the court’s orders for the federal government to remove PTM from the list of proscribed organisations given in Schedule I of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Asks govt to inform movement about basis of ban under anti-terror law

During the hearing, the bench wondered how the petitioner could move the high court without availing itself of the remedy available under the ATA.

It observed that under the law, a banned organisation had the remedy to approach the federal government by filing a review application against the ban.

Advocate Attaullah Kundi appeared for the petitioner and argued that PTM was a civil, non-violent social movement advocating for the rights of Pakhtuns since its formation in 2014.

He added that unlike violent or militant movements in the region, his client had drawn inspiration from iconic figure of non-violence Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and consistently stood against violence.

The lawyer said PTM recently announced the holding of the Pakhtun National Jirga on Oct 11 in Khyber tribal district that was expected to attract a diverse audience of 30,000 people.

He added that in the week leading up to the event, the federal government initiated a crackdown on PTM and other organisers and dismantled tents.

The counsel said that in a move that utterly shocked the petitioner on Oct 6, the federal government issued the impugned notification to proscribe it.

Additional attorney general Sanaullah Khan opposed the petition and requested the bench to reject it insisting that it is not maintainable.

He added that the ATA provided remedy to the petitioner but without availing it, he had approached the high court.

When Justice Attique Shah questioned the petitioner’s counsel whether he could directly approach the high court on the matter, he replied that when an appropriate forum was not available, then the high court could be petitioned for relief.

Justice Asadullah raised question about the locus standi of the petitioner to file the plea, observing that he was not an office-bearer of PTM.

The counsel insisted that the petitioner was a member of PTM and as the organisation was proscribed, so its leader, Manzoor Pashteen, couldn’t come to the court apprehending that the government could take action against him.

When the bench again asked why the rights movement hadn’t filed an appeal with the government against the ban, the counsel contended that under the law, the grounds available with the government for proscribing an organisation had to be provided to it.

He, however, said no grounds had been communicated to PTM for the purpose.

When the bench asked the AAG about it, he replied that he would approach the interior ministry to learn about it.

The counsel for the counsel argued that the federal government’s move was meant to sabotage the PTM’s upcoming jirga.

However, the bench observed that at that moment, it couldn’t say whether the petition was maintainable or not, so the petitioner’s lawyer should advance arguments on the point in the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the bench also issued orders for clubbing another petition on a related matter with the present one. That petition claimed that PTM had set up a parallel judicial system by the name of Pakhtun National Court, which would start functioning on Oct 11.

The petition was filed by Khyber resident Khatirullah, saying that those courts were unconstitutional.

His lawyer, Danyal Khan Chamkani, requested the court to declare PTM-formed PNCs in Khyber tribal district and camp courts in South Waziristan tribal district illegal.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2024