The police have denied engineering the cancellation of the planned debate between Tourism and Cuture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz and former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Responding to Nazri, Perak police chief Hasnan Hassan said the minister's claim that the police instructed several quarters to file police reports against the debate as baseless.

"I would like to stress that the police would never be involved in any political disputes or take sides with any individual.

"PDRM Perak is a professional body and would only take actions based on existing law and regulations," he added in a media statement.

Hasnan advised all quarters against dragging the police into political matters to pursue their personal agendas.

In an immediate response, Nazri told Malaysiakini that he stood by his remarks...