Khyber Paktunkhawa government has decided to move Supreme Court of Pakistan against Peshawar High Curt’s order regarding KP Police (Amendment) Act, 2024.
The Peshawar High Court yesterday declared unconstitutional and void the provincial police law’s changes made to seek the chief minister’s approval for posting senior police officers (BPS-18 and above) and deprive the provincial police officer (PPO) of the authority to appoint field officers.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan struck down two relevant provisions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police (Amendment) Act, 2024, and ordered restoration of three deleted provisions of the original KP Police Act, 2017, empowering the posting of high-ranking police officers by the PPO.
KP Law Minister Aftab Alam said that declaring the Police Act null and void was a violation of the preamble of the Constitution of Pakistan. He said the court decision undermines the constitutional powers of democratically elected representatives.
Provincial Law Minister said therefore the KP government has decided to approach the Supreme Court against the unconstitutional decision.
He said that the provincial government and the provincial assembly call this decision an excess of judicial powers, a violation of constitutional boundaries and a direct attack on the democratic system.
Earlier, Peshawar High Court had declared that “These interventions unconstitutionally dismantled the operational autonomy indispensable to a professional police service and, in effect, impermissibly repositioned the police as an instrument of political expediency rather than a servant of the law”.
The court observed that the constitutional scheme admits of “superintendence” by the executive only in the limited sense of broad policy direction and oversight; the day-to-day administration of the force—postings, transfers, and internal management—must vest exclusively in the IGP (PPO) so that the chain of command remains coherent, discipline intact, and the police leadership does not devolve into a merely titular office.
