Pakistan Imposes Emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Citing Security Crisis, Suspends PTI-Led Provincial Government and Mass Detains Party Members

According to an October 12 AFP report, Pakistan's federal government declared a state of emergency the previous day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, suspending the operations of the provincial elected government led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), headed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan. This step came after days of ongoing anti-government protests in the province, where demonstrators demanded the release of the still-imprisoned former prime minister. Two police officers, who provided information to AFP and requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that since the declaration of the state of emergency, 278 PTI members have been detained in the province.

The federal government invoked the deterioration of the security situation in border areas and the frequent occurrence of terrorist attacks as justification for imposing emergency measures and dissolving the provincial government. Attorney General Azam Nazir Tarar, after the announcement of the emergency law, stated that until the security situation improved, the PTI-led government of the province would be "unable to function." AFP reported that Islamabad accused the PTI authorities in KP of failing to address armed activity in the province, considering this to make the emergency law a necessary step.

Hours after the announcement of this measure, which constitutional scholars called "unprecedented," PTI claimed that the provincial Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had been arrested. Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed to AFP that Afridi had been placed in custody, but denied that he had been "arrested," and provided no further details about the custody. An anonymous administrative official told AFP that the chief minister was initially placed under "protective custody" at his official residence and was subsequently transferred to an undisclosed location.

AFP reporters saw in Peshawar that on the first day after the state of emergency was implemented, a large police presence was deployed outside the Hashtnagri Gate at the entrance to the historic old city of this provincial capital. Temporary roadblocks made of shipping containers and razor wire separated the city's administrative district from the outside world, with more than a dozen officers equipped with protective shields, batons, and tear gas deployed at each container checkpoint. Local schools were closed that day. The digital monitoring organization Netblocks reported that on the night the state of emergency was announced, "major internet connectivity disruptions" occurred in parts of the province.

Residents described to AFP in person their feelings of having their daily lives disrupted. Driver Said Khan said: "People are facing difficulties because of this colonial-style rule. People now cannot send their children to school, containers have been placed to block roads, and businesses are suffering." In Kohat, south of Peshawar, 72-year-old lawyer Mahmood ul Islam told AFP that he welcomed the emergency order, accusing the provincial government of "incompetence." He said: "They cannot control law and order, cannot control terrorism, cannot solve the problems of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa."

PTI strongly opposed this constitutional measure, calling it "undemocratic," and accused the federal government of using it to "seize power." The party called for a new round of demonstrations after the state of emergency was announced, but according to AFP observations, the scattered protests on October 12 were far smaller in scale than the previous "long march." In Bara town in the Khyber region in the western part of the province, a police officer told AFP that police had fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators and detained five people. In Peshawar, AFP reporters witnessed about 30 PTI supporters briefly chanting slogans demanding Khan's release before being dispersed by police, and then returning to their original location, engaging in a back-and-forth with police. In Mardan, northeast of Peshawar, AFP reporters saw a truck that had served as a rally point during the long march, with a leather surface printed with Khan's image, on which Khan's likeness had been torn off.

Imran Khan has been detained since August 2023, facing dozens of charges including corruption and inciting violence, stemming from the large-scale anti-establishment riots in May of the same year. He and his legal team have denied all charges, calling them politically motivated. The demands of this round of protesters include allowing his attending physician to visit him. Negotiations between the federal government and PTI leadership broke down on October 4, directly triggering the subsequent wave of demonstrations.

Regarding the specific position levels and charges of the 278 detainees, the police officers cited by AFP disclosed the figures anonymously, lacking official public verification; whether Chief Minister Afridi has been formally arrested, the accounts of the federal information minister and the anonymous administrative official are inconsistent; the extent of the internet disruption recorded by Netblocks and whether its root cause was government censorship or infrastructure damage has not been fully confirmed by independent sources.