Detention of Afridi and other lawmakers challenged in FCC

National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Senate Opposition Leader Raja Nasir Abbas jointly filed a petition before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Saturday. The petition seeks the immediate release of the dysfunctional Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and several other lawmakers, according to Daily Times and Dawn.

The legal challenge seeks the enforcement of fundamental rights and constitutional protections against what is described as the unlawful arrest, detention, and confinement of the officials.

Dawn reports that the group of detained individuals includes eight members of the provincial assembly—KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, Fazal Shakoor Khan, Dr Amjad Ali, Sultan Room, Yameen Khan, Abdus Salam Afridi, Muhammad Azam Khan, and Ikram Ghazi—as well as six members of the National Assembly, including Junaid Akbar Khan, Dr Amjad Ali Khan, Iqbal Khan Afridi, and Fazal Mohammad Khan.

Afridi has not been seen since the Centre imposed emergency and governor’s rule in KP on Oct 11. While the government has transferred powers to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, the PTI asserts that Afridi continues to serve as chief minister with the support of Imran Khan. A federal minister confirmed the following day that Afridi and some cabinet members were in preventive custody.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Times, Dawn, Dawn - Pakistan — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.