{"id":129148,"date":"2026-07-10T19:01:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129148"},"modified":"2026-07-10T19:01:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:01:53","slug":"kp-governor-seeks-single-harmonised-bill-for-lawmakers-privileges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/","title":{"rendered":"KP governor seeks &#8216;single, harmonised&#8217; bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PESHAWER(National Times)- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday urged the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to convene a meeting for deciding on a single bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His remarks come after the KP Assembly passed the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013735\/kp-enacts-new-law-to-raise-mpas-privileges\">KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026<\/a>&nbsp;on April 30. The law expanded provincial assembly members\u2019 powers and immunities, including the issuance of lifetime official passports to them and their spouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kundi had assen\u00adted to the law, alongside others, on May 6. However, following backlash, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi this week&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2014070\">ordered&nbsp;<\/a>a review of the new law\u2019s provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a post on the social media platform X, Kundi called on National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani to \u201cimmediately convene a meeting of the speakers of all four provincial assemblies and agree on a single, harmonised bill governing the salaries, privileges and entitlements of legislators across Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo province should legislate extraordinary privileges for itself while expecting the people to embrace austerity,\u201d he said, adding that salaries, security, official passports, allowances and \u201cevery other entitlement\u201d should be \u201cuniform across the federation, ensuring one standard for all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA harmonised national framework is the only way to ensure fairness, accountability and public confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The post came shortly after he appeared to distance himself from KP\u2019s new law, saying that his observations were \u201con record\u201d and that \u201cpublic money belongs to the people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a separate post on X, Kundi said his observations had been \u201con record since May\u201d and that he had made it clear that \u201cno law should become a means of expanding privileges when the people of Pakistan, especially the people of KP, were being asked to endure austerity and economic hardship\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he had urged that the law be implemented \u201cin the true spirit of fiscal discipline and prudent use of public resources\u201d, adding that \u201ca government that speaks of financial constraints cannot, in the same breath, legislate greater privileges for those in power\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy position was clear then, and it remains unchanged today: public money belongs to the people, not to the perks of those who govern them,\u201d Kundi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a copy of his observations published with the post, he recommended that the provincial assembly\u2019s finance committee implement the spirit of the prime minister\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1999437\">14-point austerity measures<\/a>, including expenditure cuts, fuel rationing and the elimination of unnecessary privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also suggested that the committee reconsider the law to operationalise those principles \u201cin true letter and spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The privileges law&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013628\"><u>expands<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;provincial assembly members\u2019 powers and immunities, including the issuance of lifetime official passports to them and their spouses, blanket immunity from preventive detention, and entitlement to licences for up to eight non-prohibited-bore weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through the KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026, the government repealed the 1988 law on the matter. Although most provisions of the repealed law were retained in the new legislation, certain changes were made to expand the privileges of assembly members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 1988 law provided that members could not be preventively detained during the period commencing 14 days before the start of an assembly session and ending 14 days after its conclusion. It also barred preventive detention during the period commencing seven days before the meeting of a committee of which the member was a part and ending seven days after the meeting concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PESHAWER(National Times)- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday urged the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to convene a meeting for deciding on a single bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges. His remarks come after the KP Assembly passed the&nbsp;KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026&nbsp;on April 30. The law expanded provincial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>KP governor seeks &#039;single, harmonised&#039; bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KP governor seeks &#039;single, harmonised&#039; bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PESHAWER(National Times)- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday urged the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to convene a meeting for deciding on a single bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges. His remarks come after the KP Assembly passed the&nbsp;KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026&nbsp;on April 30. The law expanded provincial [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T14:01:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T14:01:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/\",\"name\":\"KP governor seeks 'single, harmonised' bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T14:01:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-10T14:01:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"KP governor seeks &#8216;single, harmonised&#8217; bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"KP governor seeks 'single, harmonised' bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"KP governor seeks 'single, harmonised' bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation","og_description":"PESHAWER(National Times)- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday urged the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to convene a meeting for deciding on a single bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges. His remarks come after the KP Assembly passed the&nbsp;KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026&nbsp;on April 30. The law expanded provincial [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/","og_site_name":"Nation","article_published_time":"2026-07-10T14:01:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-10T14:01:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":670,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"humza Jahangir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"humza Jahangir","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/","name":"KP governor seeks 'single, harmonised' bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges - Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png","datePublished":"2026-07-10T14:01:46+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-10T14:01:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-6-13.png","width":670,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129148\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"KP governor seeks &#8216;single, harmonised&#8217; bill for lawmakers\u2019 privileges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/","name":"Nation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16","name":"humza Jahangir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"humza Jahangir"},"url":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129150,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129148\/revisions\/129150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}