The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet has approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act 2026, with additional recommendations, in light of a report prepared by a subcommittee.

According to Information Minister Shafi Jan, the report of the subcommittee on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act was presented during the 59th meeting of the provincial cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.

He said the subcommittee’s report was prepared in consultation with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police officials. Based on the report, the cabinet approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act 2026 with additional recommendations. Cabinet members, the chief secretary, administrative secretaries and the inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be cut off from the rest of Pakistan today and all routes to and from the province would be closed.

He said the rest of Pakistan would remain open, but people would neither be able to leave Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nor enter the province. He questioned what it meant to cut Khyber Pakhtunkhwa off from the rest of Pakistan and close all routes. Sohail Afridi asked whether a conspiracy was underway and whether there was an attempt to repeat a tragedy like East Pakistan.

He said that whatever conspiracy was being planned, and whoever was behind it, should receive a clear message: “Pakistan is ours.” He added that anyone conspiring to divide Pakistan or separate Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the country should know that “we were Pakistanis, we are Pakistanis and, God willing, we will remain Pakistanis.”

The chief minister alleged that for the past three to four days, armed men in plain clothes had been targeting his party workers, organisational officials and elected representatives.

According to him, Communications and Works Minister Shakeel Khan was attacked and an attempt was made to abduct him, but it failed. He said that plain-clothed men also arrived at the residence of Irrigation Minister Riaz Khan the previous day.

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Sohail Afridi said similar treatment was being meted out to his party workers and elected representatives in Dera Ismail Khan and other districts. He claimed that MNA Fazal Khan was abducted in Mardan, while unidentified people also raided the residence of Fakhar Jehan. “Our elected representatives and ministers are being targeted,” he said.

He questioned that if provincial cabinet ministers were not safe from these men, what would be the situation in the rest of Pakistan?

According to the chief minister, these people were afraid of public support and no sensible person would take such measures. He termed such treatment of members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet unacceptable.

Sohail Afridi said statements had recently been issued by Rana Sanaullah calling people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa terrorists, while Maryam Safdar’s statement that she faced no threat from India but feared the other three provinces of Pakistan was “extremely alarming.”

The chief minister alleged that plain-clothed men were intimidating and threatening the provincial bureaucracy, police, deputy commissioners and district police officers. Addressing the bureaucracy, police, DCs and DPOs, he said, “You must not be afraid. If the provincial government is not asking you to do anything wrong, do not follow any unlawful orders from any institution or department.”

Sohail Afridi said, “This is not anyone’s father’s Pakistan; this is Pakistan belonging to all of us. Protesting is the constitutional and legal right of every person.”

He said they were not being heard anywhere and their concerns were being ignored. In such a situation, he said, the Constitution allows peaceful protest and “we will hold this protest at all costs.”

The chief minister made it clear that as long as the Constitution provides the right to peaceful protest, they would continue to protest peacefully.

Addressing the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and across Pakistan, Sohail Afridi said, “Do not panic, do not be afraid. The more oppressive a person is, the more fearful they are.”

He urged people to stand up for their rights and what he described as “real freedom,” and to continue the peaceful struggle. He said, “God willing, the era of oppression will end very soon.”