Proclamation of emergency: Notices issued to Centre, province

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notice to federal and provincial law officers on a petition seeking proclamation of emergency in Sindh over the alleged failure of constitutional machinery to protect fundamental public rights. Headed by SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the division bench called for comments from the deputy attorney general and Sindh advocate-general by December 22. Iqbal Haider, chairperson of the Awami Himayat Tehrik, had filed a petition seeking directions for the president to proclaim emergency and governor rule following the ongoing controversy regarding extension of Rangers’ powers. He argued that being a representative of the public, he had filed a petition for the declaration of the enforcement of Article 234 of the Constitution, as a situation had arisen in which the Sindh government could not carry out its business in accordance with the Constitution. Therefore, a direction was required to the president in such a situation to, being competent, issue proclamation of emergency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th,  2015.