IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani seeks reply from federal govt over security restrictions on GB CM, Governor

ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sought reply from the federal government over its action to bar the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) chief minister and the governor from taking regional police officials with them outside the region.

IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard a petition filed by GB chief minister and government against a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior, more than a week after the PML-N leaders including Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb alleged that the GB CM had deployed his security outside Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence to prevent the arrest of the PTI chief.

The high court has also summoned additional secretary interior today (Thursday) to explain under which law the ban was imposed by the federal government.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq, Qadeer Janjua and Ahmad Khokhar represented the petitioners who pleaded the court to declare the interior ministry’s notification null and void. The petitioners argued that stopping the chief minister from taking GB police as his security detail outside the region was illegal.

Calling it a discriminatory move, they asked the high court to reverse the decision of the interior ministry.

Last week, the ministry issued a notification stating: “Security arrangements for the Governor and Chief Minister, Gilgit-Baltistan during their visit outside the region, shall be made by the respective provincial/regional governments”.

“The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan shall not deploy a police force for security purposes outside the Gilgit-Baltistan region.”

The federal government has also replaced GB police chief Muhammad Saeed with Dar Ali Khan Khattak following the Zaman Park episode.