It’s now or never: Govt forcefully defends governor’s rule in KP

PM Shehbaz says Centre left with no option except to impose emergency in KP after talks with PTI failed Dar tells Senate PTI’s refusal to replace KP CM led to dismissal of its govt in KP Interior minister says govt has evidence of contacts, financial transactions between terrorists and some PTI members Naqvi insists action taken to prevent loss of lives PTI Ali Zafar says emergency power should not be used as political weapon Raja Nasir Abbas claims govt violated the Constitution through its October 11 actions.

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ISLAMABAD  –  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said the federal gov­ernment had been left with no other option except to impose emergency and governor rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) prov­ince after efforts to resolve the situation through dialogue failed, stressing that restoring peace, improving law and order and accelerating development in the province were its top priorities.

Addressing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parlia­mentary party meeting, the prime minister said the decision had been taken after consultations with al­lied parties and in view of the de­teriorating security situation and the need to protect the country’s development trajectory. He said the government had made sus­tained efforts to engage the pro­vincial leadership in dialogue and offered cooperation to address terrorism and promote develop­ment. However, those efforts did not produce an agreement, leav­ing the federal government with no alternative but to proceed with the decision, he added.

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“It’s now or never,” the prime minister recalled telling the fed­eral cabinet while explaining the urgency of the situation. He said the cabinet meeting, held de­tailed discussions before reach­ing the decision.

The prime minister said an advisory council has been con­stituted comprising experts and professionals to help improve governance and address the province’s pressing challenges.

He said the council included professionals from different fields, including health, educa­tion and finance, who would contribute to improving public services and supporting devel­opment initiatives.

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PM Shehbaz Sharif said the foremost objective was to re­store peace and eliminate ter­rorism, while strengthening the police and the Counter Terror­ism Department (CTD), improv­ing their capacity and establish­ing Safe City projects.

He said the people of KP had made immense sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and de­served peace, security and bet­ter access to essential services.

Recalling the sacrifices made by security personnel and ci­vilians, he said terrorism had been largely eliminated from the country by 2018 through sustained efforts, particular­ly in KP, where people from all walks of life had suffered sig­nificant losses. He expressed concern over the resurgence of terrorist activities in the prov­ince, saying police person­nel and members of the armed forces continued to lose their lives, while incidents of abduc­tion and attacks had added to the insecurity.

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The prime minister said the federal government had repeat­edly offered cooperation to suc­cessive provincial chief minis­ters to jointly combat terrorism and advance economic develop­ment. He regretted that, instead of focusing on strengthening law enforcement institutions and supporting counterterrorism ef­forts, political activities and pro­tests had taken precedence.

He also criticised the use of long marches and sit-ins, saying such activities threatened the country’s economic progress at a time when Pakistan was work­ing to improve its economic indi­cators, reduce poverty and cre­ate employment opportunities.

Referring to his recent en­gagements with international financial institutions and busi­ness representatives abroad, the prime minister said he had re­ceived positive feedback on Pa­kistan’s economic reforms and prospects. He maintained that sustained progress would re­quire peace and stability across the country. He said the people of KP had long sought improve­ments in education, healthcare, infrastructure and other public services, adding that the govern­ment intended to focus on these needs alongside restoring law and order.

The prime minister empha­sised that the measures were aimed at serving the people of the province and restoring their confidence through effective governance, development proj­ects and improved security.

He expressed hope that, with collective efforts and the support of the people, KP would regain peace and move towards greater development and prosperity.

Also, Minister for Interior Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi on Tuesday informed the Senate that the fed­eral government had acted in ac­cordance with the Constitution and was not responsible for the failure of talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Responding to points raised by Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Nasir Abbas, the minister asked him to identify any specific constitutional provi­sion that had been violated.

Mohsin Naqvi said the talks at Parliament House had begun with the issue of terrorism. He said Asad Qaiser had expressed willingness to cooperate, but the government had asked the PTI to consult the Khyber Pa­khtunkhwa government before reaching an agreement.

He said the government had re­quested the KP chief minister to join the negotiations so that he could make decisions on securi­ty matters. The minister said the government wanted to prevent the loss of even a single life and could not continue to see police officers and security personnel being killed while the provincial government did not stand with it. Mohsin Naqvi said the govern­ment had accepted six proposed changes despite a disagreement over paragraph four. He said the opposition later conveyed that PTI leader Murad Saeed would respond to the proposals.

The minister said the govern­ment had evidence of contacts and financial transactions be­tween terrorists and some PTI members. Counterterrorism was the government’s sole agenda in the talks, he added.

He said permission had been granted to record a meeting with the PTI founder on Barrister Go­har Ali Khan’s mobile phone, and the demands made during the meeting had been accepted.

However, the opposition said the recording would be made the following day, he added. Mohsin Naqvi said the government had itself invited the opposition to talks and wanted peace to pre­vail while negotiations contin­ued. He said some PTI leaders had taken a wrong step and re­iterated that the government was not responsible for the fail­ure of the talks. Giving a back­ground of the government’s ne­gotiations with the opposition that had broken down at the fi­nal stage, interior minister said he held former federal minis­ter and PTI leader Muran Saeed to sabotage the talks. “Why (de­posed) KP Chief Minister (Sohail Afridi) was taking dictation from him,” he questioned.

Naqvi recalled how PTI backed out of its promises, several times, it had made with the govern­ment during talks when it had been holding a long march on Is­lamabad on November 26, 2024. He said despite their bitter ex­perience of negotiating with the PTI in the past, the government preferred to adopt the path of dialogue. “Instead of holding us responsible, those people from the opposition should be held accountable who took the party and its government to that level,” he said. He urged the opposition not to link terrorism and securi­ty with political matters.

Leader of the House and Dep­uty Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday told the Senate that op­position Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf’s (PTI) refusal to replace Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Min­ister Sohail Afridi led to dismiss­al of the provincial government.

Speaking in the House, he said the cabinet had set four condi­tions for the PTI leadership to avert the imposition of an emer­gency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, includ­ing replacing CM Afridi and con­demning terrorism.

“Tell me how many times PTI and its leadership denounced terrorism and terrorist acts,” he said, adding that the party, which was the ruling party in KP, had been allegedly mobilizing and provoking people against the country in the last few weeks.

The third condition, Dar said, was that the cabinet had sought full cooperation from the KP gov­ernment in Centre’s fight against terrorism and fourth was to agree to the imposition of emergency in 12 districts of the province.

He said that the cabinet de­cision was conveyed to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. “No positive response came from the other side,” he said, adding that how long could they wait for.

He said that the KP Assembly would become functional after six months while it would take a year or two to get the provincial government restored.

The leader of the house also ac­cused the PTI-led government in KP for using provincial resources and infrastructure in the party’s long march. “The chief minister KP completely failed in ensuring peace in the region and his per­formance was dismal,” he said.

Dismissing allegations against the Balochistan government over security, he said the pro­vincial government had been ex­tending every cooperation in the fight against terrorism. “This had become indispensable to take tough decisions for the survival of masses and the state,” he said and added though efforts for po­litical reconciliation had their own importance.

Meanwhile, the federal govern­ment defended its decision to impose an emergency and gov­ernor’s rule in KP, telling the Sen­ate that the move was constitu­tional and necessary for security, while the opposition questioned its legality and justification.

PTI Parliamentary Leader in the House Ali Zafar said dismiss­ing an elected government in KP was not merely an administra­tive decision but a test of Paki­stan’s Constitution.

“The Constitution must be our shield in a crisis, not a casualty of the crisis. The question is: are we using the Constitution to pro­tect Pakistan, or are we using an emergency to change the polit­ical order of Pakistan?” he said.

Senator Zafar said no politi­cal party or patriotic Pakistani wanted terrorism to flourish and that terrorism must be defeated with full strength. “But we must defeat terrorism without allow­ing the fight against terrorism to become a fight against constitu­tional democracy,” he said.

He said Article 232 was an emergency power, not a polit­ical weapon, and Article 234 provided for extraordinary ar­rangements intended for ex­traordinary circumstances. “Their existence did not mean they could be exercised without limits,” he added.

Speaking in the House, oppo­sition leader Raja Nasir Abbas accused the government of vio­lating the Constitution through its October 11 steps. “They are playing with the document that is the soul of the unity of feder­ation,” he said while referring to the Constitution.

He questioned whether the situation in KP had deteriorat­ed to a point that no option was left other than imposition of the emergency and governor’s rule. He said the federal government’s action sent packing the provin­cial government that enjoyed a two thirds majority.

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