National ( The cow news digital ) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has submitted a formal response to the Federal Constitutional Court, explicitly denying the establishment or existence of a “PTI Founder Release Force”.
In an eight-page reply filed through the provincial advocate general, the chief minister clarified that the initiative in question is an entirely peaceful, unarmed, and voluntary public movement aimed at advocating for the legal release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
The submission directly refutes claims made in a constitutional petition seeking to ban the initiative. The chief minister’s reply argued that the petition is premature, hypothetical, politically motivated, and legally non-maintainable. It further asserted that the petitioner failed to demonstrate any infringement of fundamental constitutional rights or produce evidence of any armed structure or private militia associated with the movement.
Highlighting constitutional protections, the response stated that the peaceful release movement is fully safeguarded under Articles 16 (Freedom of Assembly), 17 (Freedom of Association), and 19 (Freedom of Speech) of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The reply further stated that Article 256—which prohibits private military organizations—and the Private Military Organizations (Abolition and Prohibition) Act of 1973 do not apply to political assembly or voluntary peaceful movements. Chief Minister Afridi noted that drawing parallels between the peaceful release initiative and past armed non-state organizations is misleading and factually incorrect.
Requesting the court to dismiss the petition at the preliminary stage, the chief minister urged the Federal Constitutional Court to affirm the constitutional and legal validity of the peaceful movement.
The Federal Constitutional Court has scheduled the hearing on the petition against the release initiative for July 29.
