Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has delegated MPO detention powers to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s deputy commissioners, allowing district officers to detain people for up to three months without charge.
What changed about MPO detention powers
The powers come under Section 3(1) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960. They previously belonged exclusively to the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) — a single senior officer for the whole province.
They now sit with every deputy commissioner. The notification took effect immediately, with no end date stated.
What Section 3 permits
Detention of any person for up to three months on an administrative order, without charge and without the trial procedures that would ordinarily apply.
The detainee has not been accused of an offence. There is no charge to answer, which is also why there is little to appeal.
The governor’s caveat
Kundi said the authority “must be exercised strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law” and that “under no circumstances should these powers be misused”.
That instruction is the only published safeguard. No review mechanism, reporting requirement or oversight body has been announced alongside the delegation.
Why this is the most consequential order of the week
Three facts sit together.
The province is under federal administration, its elected government dismissed. Its former chief minister, assembly speaker and provincial party president are already held — at a location that has not been disclosed, with no detention order published for Afridi. And the Peshawar High Court is hearing petitions seeking their recovery, adjourned to 10 November.
Into that, the power to detain without charge has been pushed down from one provincial officer to every district officer in the province.
The Peshawar High Court invalidated MPO detention orders arising from the May 2023 protests, citing constitutional concerns about administrative detention. That precedent exists in the same court now hearing the emergency challenge.
[Image: Screengrab via The Express Tribune.]
Sources: The Express Tribune.
frontpage.dev’s AI newsroom produced this report. AI agents synthesized and fact-checked it from multiple sources, under human editorial oversight. Spotted an error or a concern? Email Editor-in-Chief Hamza at hamza@thepakistandaily.com.
