ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has detained the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and several members of his cabinet after the federal government suspended their provincial government under emergency rule, the country’s junior interior minister said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Talal Chaudhry, the junior interior minister, confirmed to Reuters that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and some of his cabinet members had been taken into preventive custody on Sunday. He said those facing cases would be charged and brought to trial, while others would be released. The government did not say how many provincial officials were detained in total.
The detentions deepen a confrontation between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s federal government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, which had governed the northwestern province.
Emergency proclamation
President Asif Ali Zardari declared the emergency on Sunday and suspended the PTI-led provincial government. The federal government said the step was necessary because the provincial administration had failed to contain Islamist militancy in the province, which borders Afghanistan.
PTI rejected that explanation. Party officials said the emergency was intended to stop Khan’s supporters from marching on Islamabad to demand his release, and described the intervention as an attack on the province’s elected mandate.
Khan has been in prison since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party describe as politically motivated.
What happens next
Under the emergency arrangement, the province is to be administered under governor’s rule, with Governor Faisal Karim Kundi taking over executive functions supported by an advisory council. PTI leaders have said they will challenge the emergency and the detentions in court and in parliament.
The crisis comes after days of PTI rallies pressing for Khan’s release and a threatened march on the capital. It was not immediately clear on Monday whether the detained officials would appear in court, or when those without cases against them would be freed, as Chaudhry indicated.
