Pakistan imposed emergency rule in its northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, the President’s Office said, following anti-government protests by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and violence involving armed groups in the country’s northwest.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed the order following recommendations citing concerns over the law-and-order situation and the failure of negotiations with government delegations, his office said. An image released by President Asif Ali Zardari’s office showed him signing the order to enforce the emergency measures. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a political stronghold of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), will see its PTI-led provincial government sidelined under the extraordinary constitutional provisions invoked on Sunday.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters have been marching across the province, demanding his release and voicing criticism of the government amid mounting economic hardships. The emergency measures, invoked under two provisions of Pakistan’s Constitution concerning security, grant the federal government extensive administrative powers over the province.
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”. Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched a series of “long march” protests between towns and cities across the province a week ago, following the collapse of negotiations with the government.
