Pakistan's president suspends provincial government led by Khan’s party ahead of march

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday declared a state of emergency in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan and suspended its government, which is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, ahead of a planned march on Islamabad by supporters demanding his release.

Zardari acted on the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet, according to a statement from the president’s office. The measures place the province under the authority of the governor, who represents the federal government.

The announcement came hours after Sharif’s office said that the federal Cabinet had recommended emergency rule, accusing the provincial government of “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism.”

No protests were reported against the suspension of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government, where police detained several supporters of Khan’s PTI party overnight. Authorities deployed additional police and security forces in the province and Islamabad to prevent unrest.

Shipping containers placed by police along key routes in Islamabad since last month to block potential rallies have disrupted traffic and forced residents in the capital and neighboring Rawalpindi to take lengthy detours.

Khan’s spokesperson, Zulfiquar Bukhari , condemned the suspension of the provincial government, calling it a disguised coup. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was the only one with a genuine popular mandate following the February 2024 parliamentary elections, which Khan’s party says were rigged.

“Now that little bit of democracy is also gone,” Bukhari said in a statement.

Referring to recent talks between Khan’s party and the federal government, Bukhari accused officials of having no intention of reaching an agreement. He said government representatives had focused on counterterrorism, while Khan’s representatives had come to discuss the imprisoned leader’s basic human rights.

Khan is Sharif’s main political rival and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated. Despite his imprisonment, he retains a substantial and passionate support base, keeping him at the center of Pakistan’s turbulent political landscape.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, and the federal government last week held talks to postpone the march but failed to reach a resolution. Gohar Khan, the party’s chairman, said days ago that negotiations remained deadlocked after two rounds.

Beside Khan’s release, Khan's party demanded his transfer to a hospital and permission for his family to visit him. Sharif's government has said Khan is in good health and receives regular family visits but maintains that meetings with the imprisoned former leader cannot be used for political purposes.

The province’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, on Saturday urged supporters to prepare to march on Islamabad. Afridi launched the protest campaign last week, leading marches through several districts in the province.

Sharif’s government has been urging Afridi since last month to postpone the march, citing a surge in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest. It has also accused Khan’s party of sympathizing with the militant group, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Khan's party said Afridi and his former Cabinet members had been detained.

Political analyst Azeem Chaudhry said the emergency measures gave Gov. Faisal Karim Kundi the powers of the provincial chief executive, removing Khan’s party from power in the only province it governed. He said the provincial assembly and Afridi’s Cabinet were also suspended.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies.