August 8, 2025
Staff Report
LAHORE
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government remains undecided on whether to repeal the controversial KP Actions (In Aid of Civil Power) Ordinance, 2019, a legislation that has drawn criticism for enabling indefinite detentions in military-run internment centres.
The ordinance was promulgated on August 5, 2019, by the then-PTI Governor Shah Farman, when PTI and Imran Khan were in power in the both the federal and provincial governments, and in favour with the establishment. The law provides legal cover for several detention centres in KPK, established during military operations in 2011. The detention centres were initially established though a federal legislation issued in 2011 by the government of Asif Ali Zardari.
The provincial assembly had also passed the KP Continuation of Laws in Erstwhile PATA Act, 2018 and the KP Continuation of Laws in Erstwhile FATA Act, 2019, to maintain the legal continuity for internment centres.
Ambivalence regarding abolishment of law
Despite dissenting voices are growing within the PTI ranks, calling for the repeal of the controversial ordinance, the provincial government has yet to decide whether it wants to completely abolish the law or not.
In this regard Voicepk reached out to the KP Law Minister Aftab Alam to ask whether the law ministry is drafting any legislation to repeal the controversial laws. Alam responded that no such proposal was under consideration at the moment. He added that the provincial cabinet would make a decision in this regard after assessing the law and order situation in the province.
In an attempt to remove the internment centres, in October 2019, Justice Waqar Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) declared the 2019 ordinance ‘unconstitutional’ and directed the authorities to convert all internment centres into sub jails.
Almost immediately, this judgement was challenged in the Supreme Court, by the federal and provincial governments both, which were led by PTI. In its decision, the Supreme Court suspended the PHC order , again legalising the internment centres across KP. Since then the internment centres remain functional and the Supreme Court has not taken up any petitions challenging their legitimacy.
Article 245 –
On July 28, 2025, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of PTI resolved that its provincial government should instruct the Advocate General (AG) to file an urgent petition in the Supreme Court. The petition seeks to withdraw the December 22, 2023, stay order that has left Article 245 suspended in the province.
Under Article 245, the armed forces are called by the provincial government in action, in aid of civil power, and high courts cannot exercise their jurisdiction in those areas, thereby suspending the fundamental rights of the people. By withdrawing Article 245 from the province, the KP government will again reinstate the writ of the courts in the province, thereby allowing the people right to fair trial.
Responding to a question by Voicepk, the law minister confirmed that no application for early hearing has yet been filed in the Supreme Court. He said that if the court did take up the pending petition, it would be the AG’s prerogative to decide whether or not to oppose the legislation in court, adding that the government was still considering whether to withdraw its appeal against the ordinance and Article 245 from the Supreme Court, where the case had been pending since 2019.
Alam said that the matter primarily fell under the purview of the Home Ministry, which was currently being overseen by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. Therefore, ultimately the final decision would rest with him. He admitted that internment centres continue to be operating across the province however he does not know the exact number of detainees currently being held in them.
Over the past few years, several missing persons have been traced to internment centres operating under the 2019 legislation. According to the government’s appointed Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), at least 1,017 people are being held in internment centres.
SC ignoring petition despite multiple applications
In its ruling, the PHC had held that Ordinance V of 2019 ( Action in Aid of Civil Power) had ‘no lawful authority’. The court had directed the KP Home Secretary to notify all internment centres as ‘sub-jails’ within 24 hours of receiving the judgment. It had also ordered the KP Inspector General (Prisons) to take control of these centres within the next three days. Following this, the federal and KP governments had filed their appeals against the PHC verdict attempting to quash the law declare internment centres unlawful. Subsequently the PHC’s decision was suspended.
Lawyer Shabbir Gigyani, had originally challenged the ordinance in the PHC in 2019. He says the ball was now in the KP government’s court.
“If they are serious about abolishing this black law, then they should withdraw their petition from the Supreme Court,” he said speaking to Voicepk. “I have filed almost a dozen applications since 2019, for an early hearing in the Supreme Court, but the case has not been fixed for hearing even once.”
According to Shumail Ahmad Butt, former AG of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the case will proceed regardless of the KP government’s actions due to the presence of other appellants. However, he says that the KP government’s withdrawal of its appeal would be largely symbolic, signaling that it seeks the release of all internees including those it has itself labelled as the most dangerous miscreants and found involved in serious crimes.
For now, it remains to be seen whether the KP government abides by the resolution – made by its own party – to abolish internment centres through legal correction. If this does happen, it will restore people’s basic right to fair trial and free movement. However till then, the fate of many remains suspended in mid-air.