The military-backed government of Pakistan declared an emergency on Sunday in Imran Khan’s stronghold and suspended its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This move comes amid rising support for the ex-jailed prime minister.
The proclamation was issued under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution after President Asif Ali Zardari approved a recommendation from the federal cabinet.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the governor will run the province with an advisory council for six months.
“The provincial government is neglecting counterterrorism efforts instead of focusing on Khan’s release,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said.
The former Pakistan Cricketer has been held in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since August 2023.
Khan is accused of corruption and making a classified diplomatic secret public, that were denied by him.
The state of emergency was declared as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters were preparing for a march to demand Khan’s release.
Chief Minister Afridi launched a protest campaign last week and led marches through several regions in the province.
The march was first set for September 27, then pushed to October 4 to allow talks between the government and PTI leaders.
Authorities said they would not let it enter Islamabad and have blocked the main routes into the capital with shipping containers.
According to Reuters, the demonstrators dispersed after Afridi’s government was suspended, as per to residents.
On Monday, the Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that Afridi was detained.
The emergency placed the province under the authority of governor Faisal Karim Kundi, representing the centre.
Police in Peshawar said eight senior PTI figures were in protective custody, including chief minister Sohail Afridi, until Sunday.
Provincial party president Junaid Akbar and Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati. Chaudhry told Reuters that anyone facing cases would be charged and the rest would be released.
Under the arrangement, the federal parliament will exercise the provincial assembly’s powers with the chief minister, and the cabinet will cease to hold office.
Imran Khan’s spokesperson Zulfiqar Bukhari called the suspension a “disguised coup.”
“KP government was the only one with a genuine popular mandate after the February 2024 elections,” Bukhari said.
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan questioned why, if the terrorism threat is concentrated in 12 districts, governor’s rule was imposed across the whole province.
Of course, the provincial government was fighting terrorism. We own the fight against terrorism individually and collectively, the former provincial finance minister, Taimur Jhagra, told Al Jazeera.
“If the issue was terrorism, then Balochistan should have had a state of emergency before KP,” Jhagra added.
The PTI has taken the fight to court as Gohar has petitioned the Peshawar High Court to restore the elected government.
Arguing the move is discriminatory because no governor’s rule was imposed in Balochistan despite its terrorism toll, not in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa itself between 2007 and 2015.
CM Afridi has said that he would not accept what he called an illegal move.
On the ground, district administrations closed schools and colleges in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera on Monday.
Police raided homes in Swabi to arrest PTI workers and stop a rally Afridi was due to address.
The International Human Rights Foundation called the emergency a “military-backed power grab” and demanded the release of the detained leaders, pointing also to an internet blockade and troops on the streets.
The Diplomat’s analysis argued that the two articles together move key public-order powers to the centre.
To cut the PTI off from the provincial administration, its resources and the day-to-day levers of governance.
