PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to administer the oath of office to Chief Minister-elect Sohail Afridi by 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Peshawar High Court Chief Justice S.M. Attique Shah issued the directive, observing that the provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati should administer the oath if the governor could not do so.
The court’s decision—reserved earlier today—was issued in response to a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party requesting that the assembly speaker or another eligible person be appointed to administer the oath to Afridi in place of the governor.
Afridi’s election on Monday took place amid uncertainty regarding the resignation status of Ali Amin Gandapur as the provincial chief executive. Gandapur, a fellow PTI member, tendered his resignation following instructions from party founder Imran Khan.
However, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Faisal Kundi, returned both resignation letters due to inconsistencies in the signatures.
The PTI says that a chief minister’s resignation does not require the governor’s approval under the Constitution. Later, the party elected Afridi in a session boycotted by the opposition.
On the same day, in a preemptive move, the PTI filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court (PHC), requesting the nomination of a suitable person in place of Governor Kundi, to administer the oath to Afridi.
PHC CJ Shah observed that such a situation would only arise if there had been no election. “But in this case, the election has already taken place,” he remarked, adding that other political parties had also submitted nomination papers for the chief minister’s slot.
The court, after hearing arguments from the counsels of PTI and the governor, reserved its decision on the matter and later ruled that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor should administer the oath to Afridi by 4 pm tomorrow.
After the ruling, Kundi, while speaking to the media in Karachi, said he never refused to administer the oath; rather, he had been saying he would abide by the Constitution.
Moreover, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, speaking at an event in Karachi, urged Governor Faisal Karim Kundi — a PPP member — to proceed to Peshawar, fulfil his constitutional duties, and comply with the court’s directives.
