Pakistan: Emergency Declared in Khyber Due to Khan
Pakistani federal authorities declared a state of emergency today in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is governed by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former Prime Minister and imprisoned Imran Khan (73).
The measure, based on two articles of the constitution, grants the federal government extensive powers in the province, where thousands of Khan’s supporters are protesting for his release.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Prime Minister’s recommendation regarding the security situation in the province, following what it described as the provincial government’s “deliberate neglect” in responding to “continuous attacks by armed groups.”
President Asif Ali Zardari posted a photo of himself signing the activation of these measures under Articles 232 and 234 of the constitution.
Zardari approved the measures after reviewing recommendations “regarding the state of public order and the failure of negotiations with government delegations,” according to his office.
Earlier, the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that the decision was taken due to the “deterioration of the general situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the deliberate indifference of the provincial government in combating terrorism.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a stronghold of the PTI, and the recent constitutional measures are expected to marginalize the role of the party-controlled local government in the province.
Over recent months, anger among Khan’s supporters has grown due to allegations that the government is preventing him from receiving adequate medical care or communicating with his family.
In August, the Supreme Court ordered his transfer to a private hospital, but authorities returned him to prison shortly after he spent a brief period in a government hospital.
Two weeks ago, thousands of PTI supporters across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held protests demanding Khan’s release, organizing processions between cities and villages.
Despite the government’s attempts to avoid sparking these protests, it deliberately linked the PTI’s demands, including Khan’s right to communicate with his doctors, to the agreement on security measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leading to the collapse of talks on the 4th.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani military announced that 12 militants were killed in a border clash along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Kurram region, after security forces intercepted a group that Islamabad said belonged to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and was attempting to infiltrate Pakistan from Afghanistan.
