PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday notified a 15-member special house committee to investigate a mob attack on Radio Pakistan’s Peshawar building on May 9 and 10 in 2023.

The decision about the committee’s formation was made following approval of a motion presented during a sitting of the provincial assembly, according to a statement from the office of Speaker of the assembly Babar Saleem Swati. It added that the panel was constituted in accordance with Rule 237 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.

On Dec 5, the provincial cabinet approved the constitution of a special committee to probe the torching of the Radio Pakistan Peshawar building during protests that erupted after the arrest of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan in Islamabad in May 2023.

The protesters destroyed equipment, historical recordings and three vehicles on the premises. A staff member suffered burns and was hospitalised.

Panel comprises nine members from treasury, six from opposition

On Dec 15, the KP Assembly, with lawmakers from both the treasury and opposition benches, unanimously approved a motion to form a special committee to investigate the 2023 violent mob attack on the Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar.

Also, the motion, tabled by minister for law Aftab Alam Afridi, read that the committee’s composition and function would be determined by the speaker of the assembly in line with the rules.

According to the terms of references, the special house committee will investigate and determine the “actual incident” occurred on May 9 and 10, 2023.

“The committee will review the causes, reasons, and circumstances of the incident and also determine whether it was the result of an organised conspiracy or not,” the notification read.

It added that the committee would also look into the role of the law enforcement agencies, collect evidence along with recommendations for future guidelines adding that the report, once completed, would be submitted in the house

The 15-strong committee, notified through a notification on Friday, comprises nine lawmakers from the treasury benches and the rest from the opposition benches, including two from JUI-F and one each from PPP, PTI-P, ANP and PML-N.

According to the notification, nine members from the treasury benches include law minister Aftab Alam as the committee’s head as well as MPAs Tariq Saeed, Malik Adeel Iqbal, Mohammad Israr, Asif Khan, Abdul Ghani, Fazal Ilahi, Samiullah and Tariq Mahmood.

From the opposition benches, the committee has PPP’s Ahmad Karim Kundi, JUI-F’s Adnan Khan and Sajjadullah, PTI-P’s Arbab Mohammad Waseem, ANP’s Mohammad Nisar and PML-N’s Mohammad Rashad Khan as members.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2025