PESHAWAR, Nov 15 (APP): The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued a significant written judgment on Saturday, imposing a comprehensive ban on use of government machinery and public resources for all political activities.
The court’s decision was rendered following a petition that challenged practice of utilizing state assets for political meetings. The judgment specifically referenced past instances, such as the “million marches,” where government resources were deployed, noting that provincial government machinery used in those protests currently remains in possession of the Federation.
The High Court affirmed the petitioner’s stance that employing government resources in this manner is a violation of fundamental constitutional articles, including Articles 4, 5, and 25.
Consequently, the PHC mandated that state must clearly distinguish between official state functions and political events, declaring that using state resources for political purposes constitutes a waste of national exchequer and an outright misuse of power.
Furthermore, the court held that such partisan use of public machinery suggests government bias, which runs counter to objectives of neutral administration. The ruling explicitly directs provincial government and all other parties to cease using government resources for political meetings and marches henceforth.