PESHAWAR, June 20: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought comments from the federal cabinet and law and parliamentary affairs secretaries about two identical petitions against the appointment of Engineer Shaukatullah as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor.A bench comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Nisar Hussain directed the standing counsel for the federal government, Jamil Warsak, to ensure that the two respondents (secretaries) file comments on the matter within 15 days.
It also issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general, observing that they should appear and assist the court on the points raised by the petitioners.
Freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai and lawyer Gohar Rehman Khattak had filed the petitions, saying Engineer Shaukatullah is a resident of Bajaur Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and that he is not a registered voter and resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and therefore, his appointment be declared unconstitutional.
According to them, Engineer Shaukat belongs to Bajaur Agency and he was elected an MNA from the said area in the 2008 elections and that he had a domicile of the said agency.
Shahid Orakzai appeared in person and said under Article 101(2) of the Constitution, ‘a person shall not be appointed a governor unless he is qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly and is not less than 35 years of age and is a registered voter and resident of the province concerned.’
Imtiaz Khan, lawyer for Engineer Shaukatullah, said the cabinet and law and parliamentary divisions had yet not filed comments on the petitions and unless the comments were not filed, the case could not move forward.
Mr Jamil Warsak requested the bench to give him more time so that he could apprise the two secretaries to file comments about the petitions.
The bench observed that the petitions were of important nature as interpretation of constitutional provisions were involved in it and therefore, the two secretaries file the sought-after comments within 15 days.
Meanwhile, the bench also sought comments from federal and provincial governments in another petition challenging Article 101(2) of the Constitution and terming it discriminatory towards the tribal people.
The petition is filed by two lawyers from tribal areas, Ijaz Mohmand and Taj Mahal Afridi, praying the court to declare Article 101(2) of the Constitution, amended through the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, as unconstitutional and against the interest of around 10 million population of Fata.
Wali Khan Afridi, lawyer for the petitioners, said dozens of provisions of the Constitution, including Article 101(2), were amended through the 18th amendment.
He said prior to that amendment, a citizen from any part of the country could be appointed governor in any province.
He said as the prime responsibility of the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was related to tribal areas, it was discriminatory on part of parliament to make the said amendment completely ignoring a vast population.
The petitioners said under Article 1 of the Constitution, Fata was part of Pakistan but in Article 101, it had been ignored.