By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf asked the National Assembly speaker to issue production orders for nine detained lawmakers so they can attend Tuesday’s session, where the government is seeking parliamentary approval for its takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In a letter to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, PTI Chief Whip Amir Dogar said the nine members were “currently detained” and asked that they be allowed to attend the Assembly’s 30th session. He cited Rule 108 of the 2007 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
The lawmakers are Haji Imtiaz Ahmad Choudhry (NA-68), Muhammad Jamal Ahsan Khan (NA-89), Mian Ghous Muhammad (NA-170), Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel (NA-91), Dawar Khan Kundi (NA-43), Junaid Akbar (NA-9), Amjad Ali Khan (NA-2), Fazal Muhammad Khan (NA-25) and Adil Khan Bazai (NA-262). Dogar argued that the speaker’s office must act impartially and extend production orders to all detained members regardless of party, so that no constituency goes unrepresented.
President Asif Ali Zardari summoned separate sessions of the Senate and National Assembly for Tuesday evening to seek parliamentary endorsement of the emergency and governor’s rule. He called them after meeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the weekend on the country’s political and security situation. Zardari approved the measures Sunday on Sharif’s advice, under Articles 232 and 234 of the constitution. In the Senate, Kamran Murtaza of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl submitted a resolution Monday opposing governor’s rule.
What the takeover does
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, of the Pakistan Peoples Party, a Sharif ally, assumes the functions of the provincial government, assisted by an 11-member advisory council. Parliament takes over the powers of the provincial assembly, where the PTI holds a majority. The proclamation says the chief minister and ministers cease to hold office. The emergency also covers 12 districts, including the eight merged tribal districts, plus Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bannu and Lakki Marwat. The federal government has authorized the deployment of army troops and assets in aid of civil power.
Because Zardari acted without a provincial assembly resolution, the constitution requires both houses to approve the emergency within 10 days, by Oct. 21. It must also go before a joint sitting within 30 days, and lapses after two months unless that sitting approves it. Governor’s rule under Article 234 can be extended by parliament in increments of up to two months, to a maximum of six.
The government’s case
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said terrorism-related incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to about 8,600 in 2024-2026 from 2,911 in 2021-2024, an increase of roughly 200%. The periods overlap, and the figures weren’t independently verified. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an independent think tank, counted 1,232 attacks nationwide in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 1,066 in all of 2025, most of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Tarar said the militant violence in Balochistan has increased less and its provincial government is cooperating with federal agencies. He said the central issue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the federal government’s assessment that the provincial administration was failing in its duties. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused the provincial government of collusion with militants without providing evidence, and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government holds evidence that hasn’t been made public.
The PTI said on Oct. 11 that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and some of his ministers had been abducted. On Monday, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told Reuters that Afridi and some cabinet members had been taken into preventive custody. Officials said those facing pending cases would be charged and tried, and others released.
On Tuesday, Afridi’s brother, Muhammad Amir, petitioned the Peshawar High Court to trace him. Filed through senior counsel Bashir Khan Wazir, the petition names the provincial police chief and Peshawar’s capital city police officer, among others. It alleges that at about 2 p.m. on Oct. 11, “unidentified armed and masked individuals” took Afridi from the Chief Minister’s House in the presence of the city police chief. It calls the detention “wholly illegal” and says no warrant or lawful order has been disclosed.
The petition asks the court to order that Afridi be produced so the legality of his detention can be examined, and released if he is held unlawfully. It also seeks a police report on the incident, preservation of CCTV footage and security logs, and the registration of a first information report. It asks for interim relief, including a preliminary report on his whereabouts within a court-set deadline. The claims haven’t been tested in court.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, speaking to reporters at Parliament House, called reports of Afridi’s custody a “very big mistake” and asked whether an elected government had ever been removed this way. “Sohail Afridi is our chief minister,” he said, adding that Afridi has the backing of Khan, who has been jailed since 2023. Gohar has said the party will challenge the measures in court and in the assemblies, and hasn’t formally called off its march on Islamabad.
Asad Qaiser, a senior PTI leader, said on X that up to 2,000 political workers had been arrested since Monday, citing reports that couldn’t be verified. He demanded the release of Afridi, provincial assembly Speaker Babar Salim Swati and PTI provincial President Junaid Akbar Khan, along with other detained legislators and ministers. Police also conducted raids in Swabi on Sunday to arrest PTI workers and prevent a rally Afridi was due to address. NetBlocks reported a major disruption to connectivity in parts of the province, and schools and colleges in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera were closed Monday.
The emergency followed the collapse of talks on Oct. 3 between the PML-N-led federal government and the PTI, which were split on counterterrorism policy and on demands including Khan’s medical care and family access. The PTI had delayed the start of its march to Islamabad from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4 to allow the negotiations. The march, led by Afridi, hasn’t gone beyond the province.
Legal experts divided
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, said the circumstances broadly justified federal intervention, citing Afridi’s focus on agitation. He said the courts would ultimately decide whether the constitutional threshold had been met, and warned that past emergencies had “hardly ever” solved the problems that prompted them. He said the government would need independent statistics to show its counterterrorism effectiveness had improved.
Salahuddin Ahmed, a former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, said there had been no breakdown of constitutional machinery to justify Article 234. He argued that a rise in militant attacks alone doesn’t meet the higher threshold for Article 232. Constitutional lawyer Salahuddin Khan Gandapur said Balochistan faces comparably severe conditions, and that the government’s suggestion of an indefinite emergency has no basis in the constitution. He said the decision could be challenged in court as beyond legal authority.
Tarar said Article 232 sets no maximum duration, so an emergency can continue while the circumstances persist, subject to parliamentary oversight. He cited the 1998 emergency after Pakistan’s nuclear tests, which the Supreme Court upheld. Ahmed said the president’s judgment is subject to judicial review and must rest on objectively verifiable facts. Gandapur noted that earlier federal interventions, under governments led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, were later overturned by the courts.
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