ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has categorically denied the existence of any “Imran Khan Rehai Force”, stating before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) that no such organization has ever been constituted, notified or operationalized.
In a concise statement submitted through KP Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Afridi clarified that the so-called “Imran Khan Rehai Force” has neither been formed nor existed at any stage.
The statement further maintained that no armed structure, organizational militancy, coercive framework or paramilitary configuration exists or has been contemplated.
The plea has been filed in response to a petition filed under Article 175E of the Constitution by Islamabad-based lawyer Malik Zaheer Ahmed through lawyer Ali Nawaz Kharal.
The petitioner sought a declaration that the formation or mobilization of the so-called “Imran Khan Rehai Force” was prohibited. It held that any attempt to constitute, organize or mobilize such a private force or militia would be illegal, unconstitutional and violate Articles 5, 17 and 256 of the Constitution, as well as the Private Military Organizations (Abolition and Prohibition) Act, 1973.
On April 1, the FCC sought a response from CM Sohail Afridi within 10 days on the PTI founder’s alleged formation of the “liberation force”.
After almost three months, the matter has been fixed for further hearing. A three-member FCC bench headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan is scheduled to resume hearing the case on July 29.
According to the statement, any previous reference to the term “force,” if interpreted otherwise, “has no legal or factual existence and cannot be relied upon.”
Afridi said the initiative in question is the “Imran Khan Rehai Aman Movement”, which he described as a peaceful, unarmed, voluntary, civic and political movement.
He said his main goal is to raise public awareness about due process of law and the state’s responsibility to act fairly when initiating criminal proceedings.
The CM assured the court that the movement is strictly aimed at legal, democratic and constitutional defense of the release of a political leader, without any element of force, militancy or coercion.
Rejecting the comparisons made by the petitioner, he stated that equating the movement with supposed historical organizations such as Al-Zulfiqar or elements associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was “totally incorrect, objectively incorrect, misleading and legally untenable.”
The CM argued that such comparisons were based on political conjectures, generalizations and historical references that had no nexus with current events and could not be used to infer illegality, militancy or any threat to public order.
The statement further said that the prime minister’s responsibilities are limited to public welfare, development, governance of the province and the welfare of its people.
He said political decisions relating to the formation of any movement, including the ‘Imran Khan Rehai Aman Movement’, fall within the domain of a political party and its organizational structure, and not within the constitutional or administrative functions of a prime minister acting in his official capacity.
“The respondent, in his capacity as prime minister, has neither the authority nor the mandate to unilaterally constitute any such political or organizational movement in an official capacity. Therefore, the allegation is legally erroneous and objectively misplaced,” the statement said.
Raising objections on the maintainability of the petition, the KP CM argued that the constitutional petition could be dismissed as premature, speculative, hypothetical and based solely on conjecture and apprehension without any actual or imminent violation of rights.
He further held that the petitioner had not established any locus standi, legal damages or enforceable cause of action against the respondents.
“The petition is politically motivated, erroneous and based on a misrepresentation of facts, with the intention of distorting legal political activity and turning it into an alleged illegal enterprise,” the statement said.
The CM also objected that the petitioner had not approached the court with clean hands, alleging that the statements had been selectively quoted and mischaracterised.
The statement added that the petition suffered from vagueness, lack of material details and absence of evidence, which made it susceptible to being dismissed for that reason as well.
The KP CM requested the FCC to declare that the “Imran Khan Rehai Aman Movement” is a legally and constitutionally protected civic and political movement under Articles 16, 17 and 19 of the Constitution.
