The Peshawar High Court has prohibited authorities from detaining Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi under a public order law. It has also put on hold an administrative notice that sealed her official home. The directions were issued on Wednesday by a two-member bench, Justices Ijaz Anwar and Muhammad Faheem Wali, while it heard her petition against a police raid on the residence and its later sealing.
The court also asked the provincial chief secretary, the inspector general of police and other officials named in the petition to respond. The ruling came as legal challenges piled up over governor’s rule and an emergency imposed in the province.
Petition challenges the raid and sealing of the residence
Bibi’s lawyer, Yasir Khattak, told the bench that his client had been given an official residence in Peshawar in June 2024. Under provincial law, he said, she was entitled to live there for the full length of her term as deputy speaker. He said police raided the house after governor’s rule and an emergency took effect in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11, and that officials returned on October 14 to seal it without warning or a legal basis.
Khattak argued that governor’s rule or an emergency did not, on its own, give authorities the power to seal the home of an elected constitutional office-holder. According to the petition, the sealing has cut Bibi off from her house, personal belongings and official documents. It asks the court to declare the sealing unlawful and to order that access be restored.
The lawyer stressed that his client was not trying to avoid lawful action. He said she was seeking protection from what he called arbitrary or unauthorised interference with her home, and from the threat of detention.
Restraint sought on 3-MPO detention and wider petitions
The petition also seeks an order stopping police and district authorities from arresting or detaining Bibi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, widely known as the 3-MPO, except in line with the law.
The directions came amid several other petitions challenging governor’s rule and the emergency. Those petitioners argue that the measures were imposed without meeting constitutional requirements, and the government has been asked to respond to them separately. Political tensions in the province have grown since the federal government’s move on October 11.
Separate vehicle case and next steps in court
Bibi also faces a separate matter. Police have registered a case against her under Section 406 of the Pakistan Penal Code after the Upper Chitral deputy commissioner alleged that she refused to return a vehicle belonging to the district administration, media reports said. That case is distinct from the residence petition and the proposed action under the 3-MPO.
The latest orders are not a final decision on whether the sealing was lawful or on the wider measures in the province. The named authorities are expected to submit their responses before the court moves further.
