PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati has sought details from police of provincial cabinet members and lawmakers who have been “detained or arrested”, it emerged on Sunday.

The development comes after reports of the detention of several PTI members and supporters, including party founder’s sisters and provincial ministers, ahead of a protest that has now been postponed to Oct 4.

Swati has already asked the provincial inspector general of police, Zulfiqar Hameed, to seek his approval before arresting any sitting lawmaker.

A second letter from Sept 25, which Swati shared on his X account on Sunday, cited Articles 66 and 67 read with Article 127 of the Constitution, the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 2025, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026.

The letter from the KP Assembly secretariat to the provincial police chief stated that Swati, being the custodian of the house, had directed the secretariat to obtain information regarding any member of the KP Assembly, minister, adviser, special assistant to the chief minister and parliamentary secretary, who had been arrested or detained or whose residence had been subjected to an “attack, search or similar action by any law enforcement agency”.

The secretariat asked for a “complete report and FIRs of such incidents [which] occurred (including the enclosed list) during the last two weeks” to be submitted to it, along with the record of those who have filed a complaint of such incidents at police stations.

The first letter to the police chief stated: “When a member has to be arrested on a criminal charge or for a criminal offence or has to be detained under an executive order, the magistrate or the executive authority, as the case may be, shall seek prior permission of the speaker, indicating the reasons for the arrest or detention of the member in the appropriate form set out in the Second Schedule.”

The letter also pointed out that where the speaker deemed it necessary in the public interest, he could ask the relevant police officer to submit the police report, as the case might be, to ascertain the facts of the matter.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has taken exception to the move and questioned the speaker’s consent requirement.

He wondered in a post on X whether the police would wait for the assembly speaker’s permission for arrest even if the lawmaker killed someone.

The interior minister mockingly described it as an “extraordinary version of equality before the law”.

In response to Naqvi, Speaker Swati posted on X that his initiative was not something new, and that the privileges the interior minister criticised were enjoyed by himself and his colleagues.

He noted that the privilege in question existed to prevent the executive from silencing elected representatives through police and to enable the assembly to function without fear.

The speaker said that the law did not place an MPA above the law and that an accused member remained subject to investigation, prosecution and judicial process.

“The speaker’s role is only to ensure that no arrest is made with the intent of political revenge or disrupting the House,” he said.

Swati wondered why no issues were raised when people were abducted, laws were passed in the dark and people were given immunity, but Naqvi had complaints about the laws passed jointly by the treasury and opposition lawmakers in KP.

“Today, we are witnessing a far more serious attack on democracy, without warrants, masked individuals are raiding homes of MNAs, MPAs and PTI leadership and abducting them in order to prevent peaceful protest. Is this democracy? When bullets were fired and massacres took place on November 24, May 9 and May 25, it became clear that this is not democracy but a state run by a few individuals, where the Constitution has been reduced to mere paper,” he insisted.

The exchange comes amid an already heated debate over the new KP Police Act, with the interior ministry arguing that the provincial legislation violates the constitutional framework and weakens the police command structure at a time when KP remains on the frontline of the fight against terrorism.

The KP Police Act 2026 links the police chief’s operational, administrative and financial decisions to the approval of the provincial government or the chief minister for implementation.

During a cabinet meeting that approved the Police Act, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said that if his government was forcing the local bureaucracy, police, district commissioners or others to do anything wrong, then they should not obey those orders.