Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emergency and governor's rule, and says it will fight the decision in court, in parliament and in public. Connected to India reported that the federal move suspends the PTI government in the province. The party calls the step an attack on the voters' mandate.
What has been imposed
The Business Standard, TRT World and Connected to India reported that Pakistan has imposed an emergency and governor's rule in the province. Connected to India said the measure suspends Imran Khan's PTI government. Business Recorder pointed readers to a related report that the president had approved a cabinet decision to impose both steps. Governor's rule means an elected provincial administration is set aside and the province is run through the governor.
These accounts do not include a full federal statement of reasons. The record here is the opposition's response, and the justification as PTI says the centre has framed it.
The parliamentary party's response
On Sunday, PTI's parliamentary party met for three hours and rejected the decision, The Nation reported. Its media department called the move "unconstitutional, undemocratic, and a blatant affront to the public mandate of the province". Lawmakers said taking constitutional powers away from the elected provincial government could threaten the federal system.
The statement warned that such decisions "would increase political instability and public unrest in the province" and would intensify tension with the federation. Differences, it said, should be settled by constitutional means and consultation, not coercion.
PTI and TTAP set out a fight
Business Recorder reported that PTI and Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aain-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a platform named for protecting the Constitution, vowed on Sunday to contest the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emergency on legal, parliamentary and public fronts. The statement came after talks that included PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, TTAP Vice Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and PTI Secretary General Salman Raja.
They accused the federal government of using terrorism as a pretext to remove what they called the only democratically elected government in the country. Other governments, they said, were products of a "Form 47-installed regime". Form 47 is the official form on which election results are declared. Business Recorder reported that the provincial government holds a two-thirds majority. The leaders said counterterrorism should not override provincial autonomy or an electoral mandate, and asked whether the steps were truly about security or about weakening a rival.
Security claims and the chief minister
Gohar questioned the timing. He said the province had cooperated with the centre, that PTI had attended 15 meetings and two days of negotiations, and that a written record existed. He asked whether terrorism was cited in those talks before 2 October and, if not, why it later became a principal reason for action. Federal representatives, he said, had first accused the province of failing to cooperate on counterterrorism.
He disputed that, citing attendance at apex committee meetings, the province's high-level security forums, along with stronger police capacity and more security resources. He challenged the authorities to name any security funding request the province had refused. Business Recorder noted that minutes, funding records and official correspondence could be used to test the competing claims.
He argued that a province-wide emergency and governor's rule were difficult to justify when, according to him, the security concerns cited by the authorities were concentrated in 12 districts. He alleged that terrorism was being invoked to obstruct PTI's planned long march, which he described as a campaign for justice. He condemned the reported detention of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi as an attack on the provincial mandate, and said the party could not contact him. The detention is unconfirmed in these reports; they carry the party's allegation, not an official announcement.
In a separate statement, Gohar thanked Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and the Awami National Party for opposing the measures. Invoking the 18th Amendment, which gave the provinces a larger constitutional role, he said allegations of poor governance could not on their own justify setting aside provincial autonomy. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emergency could be challenged in court, and that PTI would seek legal remedies, raise the issue in elected forums and mobilise public support.
The party also linked the dispute to demands concerning former prime minister Imran Khan, including medical treatment, meetings and contact with his children, and to delays in cases involving PTI leaders and his wife, Bushra Bibi. Gohar said PTI supported national security efforts but would resist using security as a reason to suppress political demands or peaceful mobilisation.
