Pakistan Detains PTI Leaders, Declares Emergency in KP — SkimNews
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- President Asif Ali Zardari declared a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, suspending the provincial government led by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party under a constitutional power allowing federal takeover during emergencies.
- Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, a close Khan ally, and several cabinet members were taken into preventive custody at his residence in Peshawar; those facing criminal cases will be charged and tried, federal minister Talal Chaudhry told Reuters.
- The federal government cited PTI's failure to contain a worsening Islamist militant insurgency as justification, while PTI rejected that explanation, saying the emergency was designed to block supporters' planned march on Islamabad demanding Khan's release from jail.
- Talks between the government and PTI collapsed after PTI refused a federal request to publicly condemn militancy and support anti-militant efforts, Chaudhry said; a PTI spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
- Khan's three sisters and hundreds of supporters were detained ahead of the planned march, while police fired shots into the air to disperse crowds in Peshawar and nearby Khyber district, according to a Reuters-verified video.
- All education institutions in Peshawar were closed and Monday examinations cancelled, while Islamabad was placed on high alert with thousands of police and shipping containers deployed to seal off the government district housing the prime minister's office and foreign diplomatic missions.
Why it matters: The federal government is using emergency constitutional powers to dismantle a provincial administration aligned with the opposition, a move that directly blocks Khan's planned march on Islamabad and his push for release from jail. The pattern echoes Khan's 2023 arrest, which triggered nationwide riots and attacks on military installations, underscoring how civilian-military confrontation keeps escalating through formal institutional tools.
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