Michael Polak of Justice Abroad Files Urgent UN Submissions Over the Enforced Disappearance and Arbitrary Detention of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Speaker Babar Saleem Swati
PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 26 October 2026
London, United Kingdom — Michael Polak, Director of Justice Abroad and a barrister at Church Court Chambers, has filed urgent submissions with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on behalf of Mr Muhammad Sohail Afridi, the elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Mr Babar Saleem Swati, Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Both men have been held incommunicado at an undisclosed location since 11 October 2026, and the submissions ask both Working Groups to act under their urgent procedures.
The Seizures
On 11 October 2026, within hours of the Federal Government purporting to proclaim an emergency and imposing Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, unidentified armed and masked men seized Mr Afridi from the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar and Mr Swati from the Speaker’s House in the same complex. Both seizures took place in the presence of the Capital City Police Officer, Peshawar.
Others taken the same day include Mr Junaid Akbar MNA, Dr Amjad Ali MPA and Mr Husnain Rafiq, who were seized with Mr Afridi. Seized with Mr Swati from the Speaker’s House were the former Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, Mr Khalid Khursheed; Mr Ikram Ullah Dilawar Khan MPA (PK-39), Chairman of the Provincial Assembly’s Standing Committee No. 35 on the Minerals Development Department; and four leaders of the PTI’s Insaf Youth Wing: its President, Mr Ehsan Toor; its Secretary General, Mr Mubashir Latif Abbasi; its Deputy Secretary General, Mr Junaid Arif Abbasi; and the General Secretary of its Islamabad branch, Mr Asim Satti.
The authorities have refused to confirm where both men are being held, meaning that their seizure meets the definition of an enforced disappearance in international law. Further, their seizure appears to be based upon Mr Swati’s advocacy for other Parliamentarians subject to repression by the Federal Government and Mr Afridi’s public advocacy for Mr Imran Khan, as well as being seen as an attempt to undermine the Provincial Assembly’s role in relation to whether an emergency can be declared and to hinder the other business of the Provincial Assembly, where the majority is held by the PTI.
No warrant or detention order has been produced for the seizure of either man, neither man has been brought before a court, and their families and lawyers do not know where they are held nor have they been allowed to speak with them. Habeas corpus petitions filed by their families are listed before the Peshawar High Court on 3 November 2026.
The Case Before the United Nations
The submissions argue that:
The men are victims of enforced disappearance: the State admits holding them but refuses to disclose where, placing them outside the protection of the law.
Their detention has no legal basis. The Speaker is protected from arrest by section 27 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s Act 2026, and two days before his seizure the Peshawar High Court had maintained its order protecting Mr Afridi from arrest.
The emergency was imposed without the resolution of the Provincial Assembly that the Constitution requires, and the seizures prevented the Assembly, where the federal opposition holds the majority, from meeting to decide on the emergency and from conducting its other business.
They were detained for their political activity and opinions, in breach of Articles 19, 21, 22, 25 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Their seizure and unlawful detention should be seen in the context of past political repression of both men as well as the general persecution of the federal opposition in Pakistan.
Michael Polak, Director of Justice Abroad, stated:
“In this case masked men seized an elected Chief Minister and the Speaker of a Provincial Assembly, in front of senior police officers, and took them to secret detention. The authorities admit they are holding these men but will not say where, or on what legal basis. This is obviously a serious breach of a number of international law provisions as well as a further attack on democracy in Pakistan.
We have asked the United Nations to act urgently. The Government of Pakistan must immediately disclose where Mr Afridi and Mr Swati are held, allow them access to their families and lawyers, and release them. The use of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention as tools to maintain political power is abhorrent and undemocratic and must be condemned by the international community.”
Notes for the Press
Michael Polak is an international barrister based in London, practising from Church Court Chambers. He is Director of Justice Abroad, which helps people who need assistance dealing with legal proceedings overseas and carries out human rights advocacy for groups and individuals. He chaired an independent review of the conditions for a free and fair election in Pakistan on 8 February 2024. (details here)
He is Chair of Lawyers for Uyghur Rights, received the IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award in 2021 and was shortlisted for Junior of the Year at the Legal 500 Awards.
For comment: contact@justiceabroad.co.uk | +44 (0)203 488 2316