PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday briefly discussed and condemned the federal government for “violating” the Supreme Court’s orders by refusing to shift incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad.

During the session chaired by Deputy Speaker Suriyya Bibi here, treasury MPA Sajjad Barakwal said the federal government and PTI’s political opponents had violated the Supreme Court’s orders as Mr Imran was taken to the public hospital PIMS in Islamabad instead of the Shifa Hospital for a brief medical checkup before being shifted back to the prison after a while.

He said the federal government feared Mr Imran, so it blocked his hospitalisation, ordered by the apex court for examination and treatment by a multidisciplinary medical board.

“Imran Khan is the only popular political leader in the country. Only such people can keep the federation united but they [the opposition] cannot stand him,” he said.

PA speaker bans opposition lawmaker’s entry to house

His speech was interrupted after member of the opposition PML-N Sobia Shahid pointed out a lack of quorum, causing heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition members.

The chair ordered a headcount. She later banned Ms Shahid’s entry to the house as the latter continued speaking despite repeated warnings.

Mr Barakwal said the personal physician had been denied access to Imran Khan.

“The federal government fears Imran Khan so much that when we talk about him in the house, its representatives point out a lack of quorum,” he said.

Adnan Khan of the opposition JUI-F said that Ms Shahid had pointed out the quorum issue but didn’t violate any rule.

He said he expected that the treasury would discuss the “injustice” meted out to PTI leader Imran.

The lawmaker requested the chair to withdraw the ban slapped on Ms Shahid and promised the opposition’s cooperation for peaceful house proceedings in the future.

Law minister Aftab Alam Afridi complained that even after pointing out a lack of quorum, PML-N lawmaker Sobia Shahid kept asking other opposition members to leave the house.

Earlier, treasury MPA Shafiullah said overseas Pakistanis had been playing an important role in the country’s development but those who came on leave during the last few months faced issues at airports and were being offloaded with officials citing different reasons, including ‘incomplete’ travel documents.

He said expatriates had been massively contributing to the national economy by sending through billions of rupees worth of foreign remittances, so their issues should be taken up by the provincial government with the federal authorities.

PTI MPA Abdul Karim claimed that hundreds of Pakistanis had been “permanently” expelled from the United Arab Emirates. He added that if any Pakistani living in the UAE supported the PTI, their passport’s renewal took several years.

The lawmaker requested the chair to take notice of the matter and asked authorities about it.

JUI-F member Adnan Khan insisted that the Intelligence Bureau had blocked passports of many Pakistanis and even the court’s orders couldn’t restore passports. He urged the house to pass a resolution on the issue.

During the question hour, minority MPA Askar Parvez said he was not satisfied with the statistics provided by the minority affairs department about the people from different faiths living in the province. He called the numbers incorrect.

“According to Gurdwara Biba Singh, the Sikh community in our province has 6,000 members, while the department has put the tally at 4,000,” he said.

The lawmaker said that 2,200 families were registered with the All Saints Church.

He also said that 8,000 more people were placed in the ‘others’ column without any mention of their religions.

“This is data from the 2023 population census, which, too, is controversial. It means that the provincial government does not have any valid data,” he said.

Parliamentary secretary for minority affairs Sultan Room informed the house that the 2023 census put the population of non-Muslims in KP at 154,967 and that the data of every religion was available.

Member of the opposition PPP Shazia Tehmas Khan said that in response to her question on placer gold mining, the authorities said a detailed report on the matter had been filed and as soon as the report was shared with the assembly secretariat, it would be shared with her.

Minister Afridi replied that the department had shared all details of gold mining contracts and that a lease was suspended due to the NAB’s observations over the bidding process.

He said that the cabinet had discussed the issue but some people, who considered themselves “powerful”, had demanded a portion of the block and that the cabinet ordered allowing the leaseholder to continue functioning.

However, the PPP lawmaker said there were discrepancies in the report submitted by the department and the law minister’s statement given on the floor of the house.

She requested the chair to refer her question to the relevant house committee for discussion and recommendations. The question was later sent to that committee.

MPA Ashbar Jan Jadoon said that in a response to her question, the government had acknowledged illegal mining in the province, while 1,004 FIRs were logged out of a total of 1,175 requests. She questioned why there was no action on the remaining requests for FIR registration.

The minister claimed that an appropriate action was being taken on the issue. He said a proposed law amendment about penalty enhancement had been pending approval for over a year but it was blocked by controversies over last year’s mining bill.

The house later passed the KP Promotion of Digital Payments Bill, 2026, which was moved by minister Afridi.

The chair later put off the sitting until next Monday.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026