Khattak says PHC to be moved against Ch Nisar, others

 Use of force against protesters

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Sunday said that his government would file a writ petition at the Peshawar High Court (PHC) instead of registering first information report (FIR) against Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and other officials.

Talking to reporters here, he said he had taken back the decision to file the FIR as it was feared that Punjab government and Interior Ministry would stop police from taking action on the FIR.

“Therefore, we decided to file a petition at the PHC against the federal and Punjab governments for using force against peaceful and unarmed protesters,” he added.He said that all the routes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were blocked therefore, his legal team advised him to file the writ at the PHC.

The chief minister added that the aim of the writ was not to target any specific individual but to halt such abuse of power in future. “The Khyber Pakhunkhwa government wants to make all those accountable who had violated the country’s law by subjecting civilians to torture,” he maintained.

About the repatriation of the Afghan refugees, the chief minister said that the deadline for the unregistered refugees was November 15. However, he added that the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) of the federal government had called a meeting of all the political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on the issue.

Pervez Khattak said he and a PTI senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi will attend the meeting. He said the KP government would accept the decision taken at the meeting. The chief minister said the KP government had ordered police to show respect to the Afghan refugees who were not registered. He said those who had crossed border illegally were to be sent back to native land with honour and respect.