ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has categorically denied the existence of any “Imran Khan Rehai force”, telling the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) that no such organization has ever been created, notified or operationalised.
In a terse statement submitted through KP Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Afridi clarified that the alleged “Imran Khan Rehai Force” has neither been formed nor existed at any time.
The statement further maintained that no armed structure, organizational militancy, coercive framework or paramilitary setup exists or has been contemplated.
The statement has been submitted 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 argued that any attempt to create, organize or mobilize such a private force or militia would be illegal, unconstitutional and in violation of 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 regarding the alleged formation of the PTI founder’s “release force”.
After almost three months, the case is now ready for hearing again. 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 it described as a peaceful, unarmed, voluntary, civil and political movement.
He said its primary objective is to raise public awareness of due process and the state’s responsibility to act fairly in the initiation of criminal prosecutions.
The CM assured the court that the movement is strictly aimed at legal, democratic and constitutional advocacy for the release of a political leader, without any element of force, militancy or coercion.
Rejecting comparisons made by the petitioner, he said equating the movement with alleged historical organizations such as Al-Zulfiqar or elements associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was “completely wrong, factually incorrect, misleading and legally unsustainable.”
The CM argued that such comparisons were based on political conjectures, generalizations and historical references that had no connection with the current facts and could not be used to infer illegality, militancy or any threat to public order.
The statement further said that the responsibilities of the Chief Minister are limited to public welfare, development, governance of the province and welfare of its people.
It said that policy decisions regarding 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 Chief Minister acting in his official capacity.
“The defendant, in his capacity as chief minister, has neither the authority nor the mandate to unilaterally constitute such a political or organizational movement in an official capacity. Therefore, the claim is legally misunderstood and factually misplaced,” the statement states.
The KP CM raised objections to the maintainability of the petition, arguing that the constitutional petition was liable to be dismissed as premature, speculative, hypothetical and based solely on conjecture and apprehension without any actual or imminent violation of rights.
He further contended that the petitioner had not established any jurisdiction, legal injury or res judicata against the respondents.
“The request is politically motivated, misconceived and based on misrepresentation of facts intended to distort legitimate political activity into an allegedly illegal enterprise,” the statement said.
The CM also objected to the petitioner’s failure to approach the court with clean hands, claiming that statements had been selectively misquoted and mischaracterized.
The statement added that the petition suffered from vagueness, lack of material details and absence of evidence, making it dismissed on that ground as well.
The KP CM requested the FCC to declare that the “Imran Khan Rehai Aman Movement” is a lawful and constitutionally protected civil and political movement under Articles 16, 17 and 19 of the Constitution.
