PESHAWAR: KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati said on Monday it was a question mark on the performance of the ‘institutions’ that masked men were firing at and abducting people.
During a provincial assembly discussion on alleged attempt to abduct Minister for Communication Shakeel Khan and alleged harassment of KP lawmakers, he said it was the parliament which approved chief of army staff as Chairman of Defence Forces (CDF). Mr Swati added that lawmakers empowered police and trained them. He said that KP police had started performing duty as a ‘B-team’ of agencies.
“Remember my words, illegal orders have not to be obeyed,” he said. He added that marches were held and would be organised in future as well, as it was part of democracy.
“You will only be able to fight once the nation stands by you. Things will worsen if there is unrest in the country,” said Mr Swati. He hoped that the chief secretary and police chief would perform their duties according to law.
Assembly discusses action against ministers; Swati questions performance of ‘institutions’, says KP police acting as ‘B-team of agencies’
“If you pick up women and children, it would only spread hatred and that hatred always leads to revolutions,” he said and at the same time requested Peshawar corps commander to sit with them, as he could settle things.
He stated that during the last two days, in presence of the district administration, police and all the institutions, masked men opened fire on people and abducted them. “This is a question mark on performance of institutions in the province. This message is defaming institutions and federal government,” he said.
He stated that abduction of Minister Shakeel Khan was foiled in Malakand but he was named in an FIR while Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan was picked up from the motorway. He said that police should have arrested the minister, if any case was lodged against him.
Minister for law Aftab Alam Afridi informed the house that Shakeel Khan was followed and attacked. His guards retaliated but an FIR was lodged against him, he added.
He stated that Shakoor Khan was abducted from the toll plaza on motorway in Peshawar. “What message ‘they’ want to give to the provincial cabinet. It is done by the powers-that-be. They want to give a message to PTI that it has no standing,” he alleged.
He stated MPA Fatihul Mulk from Chitral was also picked up in Islamabad while son of MPA Zahidullah was picked up by masked men from Bannu. He said that the September 27 march would take place at any cost. He stated that police were defunct and chief minister had sought explanation from inspector general of police.
Mr Afridi said that provincial government gave unlimited powers and financial and operational autonomy, but the government faced a setback. “After all this, the KP government pardoned them,” he said.
He said that if such actions continued where cabinet members too were unsafe, the house would then demand strict action against such elements, revisit the autonomy and curtail police’s powers.
He said that according to KP Procedures and Conduct of Business Rules, consent of speaker was must before arresting any lawmaker. Under KP Assembly Powers, Amenities and Privileges Act, 2026, no member shall be detained under any law relating to preventive detention.
He stated that it was beyond the jurisdiction of Islamabad High Court to direct anyone outside Islamabad to stop a peaceful march.
The chair ordered the law minister and minister for home to add in the new Act that the officers, posted from other parts of the country in KP, must take oath. He said that the IGP was found guilty of misconduct twice.
The chief minister’s special assistant for home and tribal affairs, Tariq Saeed, informed the house that since he had taken charge, he had been trying his best to reduce distance among the institutions.
“Who is violating the Constitution,” the chair questioned.
Mr Saeed said that he had issued clear instructions to lodge FIR in the case of minister’s abduction and probe the issue.
ANP lawmaker Mohammad Nisar informed the house that people had been looking towards the house.
He said that the situation could not be changed since 1947, the year when the country got independence. “Everyone must be answerable to the chief minister,” he said.
He stated that police were being misused despite the fact that the force should follow the directions issued by the house and elected government. “Exercise your powers,” Mr Nisar told the treasury benches.
Minister for Information Shafi Jan questioned as to who would be responsible if people reacted to those masked men in plain clothes. “Are they leading us for another East Pakistan,” he questioned.
He stated that they wanted to arrest the leadership of PTI before September 27. He said that people wanted to carry arms for their protection. He warned of repercussions of a leaderless protest.
Earlier, while addressing the provincial assembly, KP Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi said that lawmakers were unsafe as people in plain clothes opened fire on the vehicle of Provincial Minister Fazal Shakoor Khan.
“Are they repeating East Pakistan’s episode,” the chief minister questioned while addressing the session of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He said that they were more Pakistani than anybody else and all the conspiracies would never succeed.
Referring to a press conference of Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi, he said that action against militants should be taken ‘once for all’. He said that only Pakistani nation would decide things ‘once for all’. “September 27 will decide this once for all,” he said.
He said that Kashmiris were shot at for the first time in the history of the country. “We were, are and will be peaceful but if somebody thinks that they will finish us by using weapons, the next generation will not remain peaceful and will launch an armed struggle,” he said.
Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2026
