KP enacts law expanding MPAs’ privileges, including official passports for life

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has brought into force a new law broadening the powers, immunities and benefits of members of the provincial assembly, including lifetime official passports for lawmakers and their spouses.

The KP Assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026, on April 30, alongside the KP Province Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026, and the KP Province (Salaries and Allowances of Members) Act, 2026. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi gave assent to the three laws on May 6. The legislation and gazette notifications have not yet been uploaded to the KP Assembly website.

Expanded legal protections

The new law replaces the 1988 legislation on the same subject. While many provisions from the earlier law have been retained, several clauses have been revised to widen lawmakers’ privileges.

Under Section 8(1), an MPA may call a meeting in their constituency or the relevant district at a public place of their choosing for the discharge of official functions. Section 8(2) makes attendance mandatory for the concerned district’s government officers if they have been properly informed. The law states "Every government officer of the district concerned shall be bound to attend the meeting summoned under section 1, provided that the officer has been duly informed".

Section 8(3) says that a government officer who fails to attend such a meeting without sufficient cause will be considered to have committed a breach of privilege.

Section 10 grants members complete immunity from preventive detention. This marks a change from the 1988 law, which had limited such protection to specified periods before and after assembly sessions and committee meetings. The new provision states "Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no member shall be detained under any law relating to preventive detention".

Arrest, security and travel-related privileges

Section 11 requires authorities to obtain the speaker’s prior permission before arresting a member on a criminal charge or for a criminal offence, or before detaining a member under an executive order. The law says the reasons must be indicated in the prescribed form. It further allows the speaker, if deemed necessary in the public interest, to seek a police report or challan to ascertain the facts, and to order an inquiry before the challan is submitted to the court.

Under Section 12(1), assembly members are entitled to Category-B security during their tenure, subject to notification by the Home and Tribal Affairs Department. Section 12(2) allows an upgrade to Category A in the event of a credible threat on the basis of a threat assessment report and the seriousness of the threat as determined by the competent police authority. Section 12(3) says a member provided security personnel may retain that security anywhere in Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Section 14 expands additional privileges available to MPAs. It entitles them to licences for eight non-prohibited-bore weapons, including four free licences and four on payment of a notified fee. Under the previous law, members were entitled to four free lifetime weapon licences.

The same section also adds new facilities, including assembly identity cards for spouses that are to be recognised and accorded due respect by all law enforcement agencies. MPAs will also be allowed to use VIP lounges at airports across the country. Subject to applicable federal law, the member and their spouse will also be entitled to official passports. The law further provides for club memberships on the same terms and rates as those available to government officers, as well as the use of a personally driven vehicle with tinted or darkened screens.

The law also increases fines and prison terms for offences committed under its provisions.