Pakistan’s federal government has taken direct control of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the northwestern province until now governed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
asserted
government → take → party
President Asif Ali Zardari signed a proclamation on Sunday, on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, imposing a state of emergency and declaring that the provincial government could no longer function in accordance with the Constitution, the legal basis for governor’s rule.
uncertain
government → sign → rule
On Monday, junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said that the province’s chief minister Sohail Afridi had been placed under detention.
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minister → say → detention
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Afridi → launch → Khan
“The fundamental grounds for imposition of emergency are law and order, fight against terrorism, and to save innocent people from the dreadful consequences of terrorist activities,” federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said at a news conference in Islamabad on Sunday, alongside Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials.
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Tarar → save → Tarar
PTI, which has governed the province since 2013, has rejected the move.
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which → govern → move
It came after talks collapsed between the federal government and the party over a planned to Islamabad demanding ex-PM Khan’s release.
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talks → come → release
Here is what the two measures mean, who now runs the province and how long the arrangement could last.
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arrangement → mean → province
Who runs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa now?
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Who → run → Pakhtunkhwa
Under the government’s decision, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi will assume the functions of the provincial government.
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Kundi → assume → government
Kundi belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an ally of Sharif’s government.
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Kundi → belong → government
Parliament — where Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the PPP and their other allies hold a majority — takes over the powers of the provincial assembly, where PTI has a majority.
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PTI → hold → majority
The chief minister, ministers, advisers, special assistants and advocate general “shall forthwith cease to hold office”, the proclamation says.
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proclamation → cease → office
Hassan Abdullah Niazi, a Lahore-based lawyer and adjunct faculty member at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), offered a different interpretation.
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Niazi → base → interpretation
“However, this does not mean that the KP assembly or its elected Chief Minister have been permanently removed.
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assembly → mean → ?
It is more akin to thinking they are dysfunctional until the emergency is lifted, at which point they must be restored,” he told Al Jazeera.
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he → think → Jazeera
Kundi will be assisted by an 11-member advisory council.
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Kundi → assist → council
The army, already deployed in the province, is expected to assist the governor and his team maintain law and order.
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governor → deploy → law
A separate federal order has established a secretariat for 12 “designated districts”, most of them in the former tribal areas along the Afghan border.
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order → establish → border
It will be headed by an additional chief secretary, whose orders will carry the same legal effect as those of the provincial government.
“No province has been divided anywhere.
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province → head → government
It is only that these are the war-hit districts where more funding and more focus will be needed at this time, and for that this has been set apart,” Naqvi said at Sunday’s news conference.
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Naqvi → hit → conference
The order also states that the constitutional provision requiring the judiciary to be separated from the executive “shall not apply” to the designated districts.
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provision → state → districts
“The constitutional provision that mandates the separation of the judiciary from the executive has been suspended, allowing executive officers to perform judicial functions,” Rida Hosain, a Lahore-based constitutional lawyer, told Al Jazeera.
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Hosain → mandate → Jazeera
Why did the government invoke both measures?
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government → invoke → measures
Article 232 of Pakistan’s Constitution allows the president to declare an emergency when security is threatened by an “internal disturbance beyond the power of a Provincial Government to control”.
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security → allow → Government
Article 234 applies when a governor reports that a province cannot be governed in accordance with the Constitution.
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province → apply → Constitution
The proclamation cites “terrorist” attacks of “unprecedented level of violent intensity” and says the provincial government “has failed to demonstrate the ownership, will and intent to adequately deal with the menace of terrorism”.
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government → cite → terrorism
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based independent think-tank, militants carried out at least 1,066 attacks in Pakistan in 2025, up from 908 in 2024.
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militants → accord → 2024
PICSS recorded 1,232 attacks nationwide in the first nine months of 2026, exceeding the total for all of 2025.
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PICSS → record → 2025
The majority occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, in the southwest.
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majority → occur → southwest
“But this situation was so grave and exceptional that the requirements in both provisions, the conditions that demand them, were such that both provisions were exercised,” Tarar said.
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Tarar → demand → them
Information Minister Ataullah Tarar went further, accusing the provincial government of links to armed groups.
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Tarar → go → groups
“This was the carefully considered view, from start to finish, of all cabinet members that the PTI government in KP is hand in glove with the terrorists,” he said, without providing evidence.
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he → consider → evidence
Naqvi said the government had dozens of pieces of evidence against the provincial government.
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government → say → government
None has been made public.
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None → make → ?
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan questioned why the measures applied across the province if the security concerns were concentrated in specific districts.
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concerns → question → districts
“If there is terrorism and an emergency is needed in 12 districts, then why is governor’s rule across the whole province?” he said at a news conference in Islamabad after the government’s briefing.
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he → be → briefing
Taimur Jhagra, a PTI leader and former provincial finance minister, rejected the government’s allegations.
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Jhagra → reject → allegations
“Of course the provincial government was fighting terrorism.
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government → fight → terrorism
We own the fight against terrorism individually and collectively.
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We → own → terrorism
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
