Aid of civil power regulations challenged
Petitioner demands due process, compensation for liberty violations
Petitioner demands due process, compensation for liberty violations. PHOTO: IHC WEBSITE
ISLAMABAD:
A petitioner has challenged the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations, 2011, in the Islamabad High Court.
Rashida Ameer, the widow of the late Rana Ameer Ahmad, who lost his life in an internment centre, has filed a petition in the IHC with a request to declare regulations as ultra vires Article 247(5), for having travelled beyond the legislative mandate conferred upon the president by the said article.
“By subjecting citizens of Pakistan who reside outside of FATA to punishment of internment, the regulations travel beyond the FATA-specific legislative mandate given by the Constitution to the President of Pakistan through Article 247(5)”, the petition stated.
The petition states that by creating a parallel judicial system, and by encouraging the executive authorities to trample the rule of law, the regulations do not make any positive contribution to the “peace and good government of FATA or any part thereof”, and are thus are ultra vires Article 247(5) itself.
“By inflicting the punishment of interment upon citizens without providing them due process, the regulations directly violate the constitutional obligation of the state,” the petition added.
The applicant also pleaded the court to direct the government to grant compensation for the violation of the constitutional right to liberty of the detainee and others.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2015.
A petitioner has challenged the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulations, 2011, in the Islamabad High Court.
Rashida Ameer, the widow of the late Rana Ameer Ahmad, who lost his life in an internment centre, has filed a petition in the IHC with a request to declare regulations as ultra vires Article 247(5), for having travelled beyond the legislative mandate conferred upon the president by the said article.
“By subjecting citizens of Pakistan who reside outside of FATA to punishment of internment, the regulations travel beyond the FATA-specific legislative mandate given by the Constitution to the President of Pakistan through Article 247(5)”, the petition stated.
The petition states that by creating a parallel judicial system, and by encouraging the executive authorities to trample the rule of law, the regulations do not make any positive contribution to the “peace and good government of FATA or any part thereof”, and are thus are ultra vires Article 247(5) itself.
“By inflicting the punishment of interment upon citizens without providing them due process, the regulations directly violate the constitutional obligation of the state,” the petition added.
The applicant also pleaded the court to direct the government to grant compensation for the violation of the constitutional right to liberty of the detainee and others.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2015.