The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has restrained the Peshawar High Court (PHC) from hearing cases concerning arrests under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in an interim order issued on Thursday 5 November 2026.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the case after the provincial government challenged several orders passed by different benches of the high court, raising objections to the high court’s jurisdiction. The high court had earlier issued orders restraining the authorities from making arrests under 3-MPO, and had ordered the release of 28 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers detained in various districts of the province.

Orders suspended, proceedings adjourned

The FCC suspended the challenged PHC orders and said notices were being issued to the parties in the matter. After issuing the directives, the court adjourned further proceedings indefinitely. The case reached the FCC through petitions filed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, including 48 miscellaneous petitions listed for hearing on Thursday.

The order is an interim restraint on which court may hear the cases, not a ruling on the merits of the detentions themselves. It does not decide whether the arrests under 3-MPO were lawful, and the underlying questions about preventive detention powers remain to be argued when proceedings resume. The dispute arises against the background of governor’s rule and an emergency imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last month, under which the army was deployed in the province.

Sources: Islamabad Post, FCC bars PHC from hearing cases over 3-MPO arrests in KP, 5 November 2026; Lead Pakistan, PHC decision nullifying detention of PTI leaders, workers challenged in FCC, 3 November 2026.