Pakistan placed a northern province under emergency rule on Sunday, the president’s office said, following anti-government demonstrations by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and militant violence in the northwest.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters have been marching in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to demand his release and airing anti-government criticism fuelled by harsh economic conditions.
Shortly after the measures were announced, a lawmaker from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Junaid Akbar, said on X that the province’s chief minister Sohail Afridi had been arrested along with the provincial president.
A government spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment on the PTI provincial leader detentions. The country’s law minister confirmed the provincial government had been disbanded, saying at a news conference that incidents of militancy had increased during its tenure.
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan called the emergency declaration “an extremely alarming and grave political mistake and an undemocratic measure”.
“The people will never accept such actions against their rights,” he posted on X.
The declaration, invoked under two articles of Pakistan’s constitution dealing with security, grants the federal government sweeping administrative powers over the province.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the order after cabinet recommendations “regarding the law and order situation, and the failure of negotiations with government delegations”, his office said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said earlier the decision had been taken over the “deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and... from the provincial government’s deliberate indifference in the war against terrorism”.
‘Held hostage’
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a stronghold for Khan’s party, and the PTI-led government there will be sidelined under Sunday’s extraordinary constitutional measures.
At a later news conference, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar confirmed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government would be “non-functional until the situation improves”, outlining arrangements for the province to be administered directly by its governor, assisted by an advisory council.
Intense security was deployed in the provincial capital of Peshawar on Sunday, with large numbers of personnel around the chief minister’s residence, an AFP reporter said, while mobile phone networks in the area appeared to be disrupted.
Public transport services were suspended and roads in other cities in the province also had been closed.
“All the roads are blocked. We have a democratic government here, with members of the provincial and national assemblies being held hostage,” Abdur Rehman, 32, told AFP in Peshawar.
“If they impose an emergency, it would amount to stealing the mandate of our Pashtun people. This should not happen,” he added, referring to the ethnicity of the majority of the population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PTI supporters began “long march” demonstrations, led by the province’s chief minister, between towns and cities throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a week ago with plans to eventually reach the Pakistani capital, as talks with the government broke down.
Show of force
Khan, a hugely popular former cricket star, has been behind bars since August 2023, facing scores of charges ranging from corruption to inciting violence, following widespread anti-establishment riots in May that year.
He and his legal team reject the allegations, branding them as politically motivated.
Once backed by the country’s powerful military establishment during his rise to power, Khan fell out over key appointments and foreign policy issues before being ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2022.
He has publicly accused the military leadership, including Army Chief General Asim Munir, of orchestrating his removal. The military denies meddling in politics.
Facing the threat of civil unrest in recent weeks, the government had sought to avert the opposition party’s show of force on the streets through talks with its leaders, tying negotiations over PTI’s demands to agreement on ramped up security measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The protesters’ demands included access to Khan by his doctors. Talks broke down on October 4, prompting the start of the demonstrations.
In a separate security challenge, Pakistan has blamed an increase in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan on militancy emanating from Afghanistan.
The Taliban government in Kabul denies such claims and criticises Pakistan for violating Afghanistan’s sovereignty and killing civilians in strikes Islamabad says target militants.
The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and armed conflict between the neighbouring countries this year.
