Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Thursday challenged the invoking of Article 245, under which the army can be called in to aid the civil administration, in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Islamabad, calling it.
In the petition through his lawyer Hamid Khan, the PTI chief said that the arrests, investigations and trial of citizens under the Army Act 1952 were “unconstitutional and void and of no legal effect and amounts to negation of the Constitution, rule of law and independence of the judiciary.
The petitioner maintained that trying civilians in military courts would be synonymous with denying them the right to life, due process and fair trial, the dignity of man and equal protection of law to the accused.
It also contends that the "deliberate, malafide, contumacious disregard" for court judgments passed by the SC concerning the provision of elections ought to be determined judicially.
The former premier has also pleaded with the top court to take notice of the "unlawful arrests" of party leaders and others accused of vandalising state installations "without the registration of cases under the applicable laws".
The PTI chief also urged the top court to order the formation of a judicial commission to probe the events of May 9 and 10.
The plea named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other as respondents.
