Pakistan has declared an emergency in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province amid a deteriorating law and order situation in the region, effectively bringing the provincial government to an end. According to the presidential proclamation, President Asif Ali Zardari invoked emergency provisions, citing a breakdown of constitutional machinery in the province. The move allows Pakistan’s federal government to assume key executive and legislative powers.
The federal cabinet approved the proposal earlier in the day at a special meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The cabinet alleged that the provincial government has deliberately disengaged from efforts to combat deteriorating law and order situation and recommended imposing the emergency. Under the proclamation, the Chief Minister, provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants and advocate general will vacate their offices.
The development comes amid an ongoing protest march led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who is demanding the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and access to medical treatment for him. The march began in Lakki Marwat earlier this month and has passed through several districts of the province. Cricketer-turned-politician and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, the 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician, has been lodged at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since 2023.
