Salman Akram Raja questions ‘detention’ of KP Assembly speaker

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Sunday condemned the alleged arrests of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa “Chief Minister” Sohail Afridi and provincial assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati, questioning the legal basis for detaining the latter while the assembly remained intact.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad after a meeting of the PTI and the joint opposition, the PTI leader said that Afridi had been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order (3-MPO) law, but questioned why the assembly speaker had also been taken into custody.

“The chief minister, Sohail Afridi, has been arrested under 3-MPO, but arresting the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker is unprecedented. The assembly is still in place; it has not been dissolved. Why has he been arrested?” Raja said.

He said that PTI had been prepared to continue negotiations and wanted an outcome that would preserve democratic governance in Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We were ready to move the negotiation process forward. We wanted a positive decision that would allow democracy — which existed in just one province of Pakistan — to continue. But that could not happen,” he said.

His remarks came after PTI MNA Shahid Khattak claimed that Afridi and other party leaders, including Junaid Akbar, had been arrested following the imposition of emergency in the province.

In a post on X, Khattak, who heads PTI’s southern region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said he was in Peshawar and urged supporters to gather in the city in support of jailed party founder Imran Khan.

The reported arrests and PTI’s response came amid escalating political tensions following the federal government’s decision to impose emergency measures and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.