Imran Khan moves SC against ‘undeclared martial law’

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has approached the highest court of appeal of the country alleging that an "undeclared martial law" has been imposed in several provinces by invoking Article 245.

Under Article 245 of Pakistan's Constitution, the Army can be called in to aid the civil administration to defend the nation. Khan filed a plea in the Supreme Court (SC) stating that the federal government has imposed what he has described as an 'undeclared' Army rule in the country.

A day earlier, Khan had appealed to the SC judges to save democracy in Pakistan, saying "you are our last hope." Pakistan Army, which has ruled the country for most part of the 75 years of its existence through coups or by popping up puppet regimes, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

Khan's petition has challenged deployment of the Army to aid the civilian administration in some provinces of the country like Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and in capital Islamabad. Khan moved the apex court of Pakistan against Shehbaz Sharif's government for invoking Article 245 in several provinces.

The 70-year-old chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has urged the court in his petition to take notice of the martial law-like situation in parts of the country and the ongoing aggressive crackdown on his party.

Khan has termed the arrests, investigations and trials of citizens under the Army Act 1952 as "unconstitutional and void". He further alleged that it is of no legal effect and amounts to "negation of the Constitution, the rule of law and independence of the judiciary."

The Dawn newspaper quoted from the petition as saying, "The dictated exercise of this power by the Federal Cabinet in the absence of objective conditions for the exercise of that power is clearly violative of the fundamental rights."

Khan has pointed out in his submission that the "dismantling of PTI through forcible quitting of party membership and office are unconstitutional and void being against Article 17 of the Constitution," the Dawn report said.

The PTI leader has named Prime Minister Sharif, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other as respondents in his plea.

The cricketer-turned-politician has also pleaded with the SC to appoint a commission led by an apex court judge to probe the events surrounding his arrest on May 9 and subsequent incidents.

The petition was filed as the military court was planning to hear cases against 16 'miscreants' allegedly involved in the attacks on the military installations. Raising questions about the trial by military courts, Khan has argued that it would be synonymous with denying them the right to life, due process and fair trial, the dignity of man and equal protection of the law to the accused.