ISLAMABAD: Invoking jurisdiction of the Federal Constitutional Court the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the Chitral land settlement case has filed a Federal Constitutional Petition for Leave to Appeal (FCPLA) against the judgment of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
The PHC in its judgment dated November 24, 2025 authored by Justice Wiqar Ahmad had declined to strike down an ignominious 1975 Notification issued under the Distribution of Property Chitral Regulation, 1974 which declared all “mountains”, “wastelands”, “pastures”, “river beds” etc. to be the property of the Provincial Government. However, at the same time the PHC had declared the 1975 Notification to be “rebuttable” and directed aggrieved parties to approach the civil courts for declaration of their rights.
Under the garb of implementing the 1975 Notification, the title of 97 percent of Chitral’s land mass had been entered in the name of the provincial government to the exclusion of the local population. Disenfranchised people were forced to approach the PHC in 2019, which resulted in a protracted legal battle, with the chief justice of the PHC transferring the case from the Mingora Bench of the PHC to its principal seat, ultimately culminating in the PHC judgment.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has now filed an FCPLA before the FCC through the advocate general claiming that the PHC exceeded its jurisdiction and misapplied the law.
Media reports disclosed that Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk, who had remained counsel for the Chitrali litigants, said, “The PHC’s judgment was a very balanced which appreciated the legislative history of Chitral, the working of the Chitral Land Disputes Enquiry Commission, the scope of the Distribution of Property Chitral Regulation, 1974 and the Settlement of Disputes of Immovable Property Chitral Regulation, 1974”.
Barrister Mulk added; “The government was according a very draconian and confiscatory interpretation to the 1975 Notification, which the PHC’s judgment set at naught.” He said that “the Chitral Land Disputes Enquiry Commission was constituted under the Dir, Chitral and Swat Administration Regulation, 1969 in the wake of the merger of the State of Chitral into Pakistan, and was mandated to inquire into and determine the private and personal property of the ex-Ruler of Chitral as well as ‘disputed’ properties of the common people of Chitral. The commission was not mandated to determine the title of undisputed properties of the common people which has now been misinterpreted during the settlement process and acknowledged by the PHC in its judgment and rectified.”
Former MNA Chitral Shahzada Iftikharuddin said, “The PHC judgment recognized that the provincial government had overstepped its legal mandate when it used the 1975 Notification to enter the title of 97 percent of Chitral in its name to the exclusion of the common people and this represented a victory for the people of Chitral.”
He lamented that the provincial government “instead of accepting the PHC’s verdict wanted to use legal process to frustrate the legitimate proprietary rights of the people of Chitral.”
Inayatullah Aseer an elder of Chitral described the common people of Chitral as owners of small holdings whose proprietary rights were safeguarded by the PHC decision. He said that the provincial government’s decision to challenge the PHC decision could not be attributed to any bona-fide.
It remains to be seen how the FCC takes up the case. One thing is clear, there will be a frenzied showdown between the provincial government and the indigenous inhabitants before the FCC.
