Khyber Pakhtunkhwa placed under federal rule as Pakistan ousts PTI cabinet

Pakistan's federal administration has taken direct control of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, instituting governor's rule and declaring an emergency that unseats the local government led by Imran Khan's political party.

President Asif Ali Zardari authorized the sweeping measures on October 11 following a formal recommendation from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the federal cabinet, according to The Diplomat. The joint invocation of constitutional Articles 232 and 234 dissolved the provincial cabinet headed by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, transferring executive authority to the federally appointed governor and enabling the national parliament to handle provincial legislation.

Islamabad pointed to escalating militant violence across the northwestern province as the primary justification for the intervention. Federal officials alleged that the administration run by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had undermined national counterterrorism initiatives, failed to preserve public order, and allowed armed factions room to operate. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused the regional government of cooperating with extremist networks.

Leaders of PTI rejected the allegations, arguing that the central coalition is using security concerns as a pretext to weaken the party in its traditional political stronghold. Party officials asserted that the federal government ignored requests for consultative security planning while blocking them from meeting Khan, who remains incarcerated. The intervention occurred just as PTI supporters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were preparing a protest march toward Islamabad to demand Khan's freedom.

Tensions between the federal coalition—primarily composed of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Zardari's Pakistan People's Party—and PTI have been intense since the disputed 2024 general election. The provincial leadership's resistance to national security directives had steadily deepened the rift between Islamabad and Peshawar.

Following the takeover, the central government created an Area Development Secretariat to oversee security and administrative duties across several border and former tribal districts, including Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan. Supervised by a dedicated council, the new administrative setup directly aligns civil authorities, police, and military commands under federal control.

Provincial Governor Faisal Karim Kundi stressed that security strategies will now be directed exclusively by national authorities, stating that future policies will originate from Islamabad rather than Afghan cities such as Kabul, Jalalabad, or Kandahar. The remarks signaled that the central administration intends to enforce security measures unilaterally without accommodating cross-border militant arrangements.