What do emergency and governor rule in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mean?

Pakistan has taken control of a province governed by Imran Khan’s PTI. Here is what the move means and what happens next.

Police guard a road leading to the Red Zone, in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, October 11, 2026 [Reuters]

Islamabad, Pakistan – The federal government has taken direct control of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the northwestern province governed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party until now.

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. On Monday, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said the province’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, was detained.

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“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,” 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.

PTI, which has governed the province since 2013, has rejected the move. It came after talks collapsed between the federal government and the PTI over a planned march to Islamabad demanding the party leader’s release.

Here is what the two measures mean, who now runs the province and how long the arrangement could last.

Who runs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa now?

Under the government’s decision, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi will take over the functions of the provincial government. Kundi belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an ally of Sharif’s 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. The chief minister, ministers, advisers, special assistants and advocate general “shall forthwith cease to hold office”, the proclamation says.

Hassan Abdullah Niazi, a Lahore-based lawyer and adjunct faculty member at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), offered a different interpretation.

“However, this does not mean that the KP Assembly or its elected chief minister have been permanently removed. 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.

An 11-member advisory council will assist Kundi. The army, already deployed in the province, is expected to assist him and his team in maintaining law and order.

A separate federal order has established a secretariat for 12 “designated districts”, most of them in the former tribal areas along the Afghan 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. 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.

The order also states that the constitutional provision requiring the judiciary to be separated from the executive “shall not apply” to the designated 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.

Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar speaks during a news conference after President Asif Ali Zardari declared an emergency and suspended the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Islamabad, October 11, 2026 [Ariba Shahid/Reuters]

Why did the government invoke both 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”.

Article 234 applies when a governor reports that a province cannot be governed in accordance with the 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”.

According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based independent think tank, armed men carried out at least 1,066 attacks in the country in 2025, up from 908 in 2024.

The number rose sharply in 2026 as PICSS recorded 1,232 attacks nationwide in the first nine months – the majority of which occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan province in the 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.

Information Minister Ataullah Tarar went further, accusing the provincial government of links to armed 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.

Naqvi said the government had dozens of pieces of evidence against the provincial government. None has been made public.

PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan questioned why the measures were applied across the province if the security concerns were concentrated in specific 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.

Taimur Jhagra, a PTI leader and former provincial finance minister, rejected the government’s allegations.

“Of course the provincial government was fighting terrorism. We own the fight against terrorism individually and collectively. If the issue was terrorism, then Balochistan should have had a state of emergency before KP,” he told Al Jazeera.

What has happened since Sunday?

PTI says Afridi, the chief minister until Sunday, and other party leaders are under arrest.

“We know the CM, the provincial president, Junaid Akbar, the speaker, Babar Swati, and some other leaders have been detained. The government has not revealed where they are,” Jhagra said.

Naqvi had also indicated on Sunday that PTI figures could be detained.

“Definitely, them or whoever else is needed for law and order, to maintain it, we will take into protective custody. But those among them who are wanted will be arrested, and everyone else will be released as soon as law and order improves,” Naqvi said.

Tarar, relaying Naqvi’s position at the same news conference, said some PTI figures had already been taken into preventive custody.

PTI says several provincial ministers and lawmakers were detained even before Sunday.

Internet monitor NetBlocks reported late on Sunday that network data showed a major disruption to connectivity in parts of the province.

District administrations closed schools and colleges in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera on Monday.

Meanwhile, in Punjab province, Imran Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi have been held in custody since September 20-21, under a public order law that allows preventive detention for 30 days.

A motorcyclist rides past shipping containers used to block access to the Red Zone, a day after Pakistan imposed a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, suspending the provincial PTI government, in Peshawar, Pakistan, October 12, 2026 [Reuters]

How long can the measures last?

Provinces have been placed under governor’s rule at least eight times since 1949. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then known as the North West Frontier Province, faced it in 1975 and 1994.

Because Zardari acted without a resolution from the provincial assembly, the Constitution requires both houses of Parliament to approve the emergency within 10 days, by October 21.

Sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate have been called for Tuesday.

The emergency must also be placed before a joint parliamentary sitting within 30 days. It lapses after two months unless approved by the joint sitting.

Once approved, however, the Constitution sets no fixed end date. The emergency remains in force until it is revoked or a majority of the total membership of both houses votes against it.

Governor’s rule under Article 234 has a separate limit. Parliament can extend it in two-month increments, for a maximum of six months in total.

“The emergency provisions allow the executive to suspend certain fundamental rights, and there is no fixed time limit for how long an emergency can continue, allowing for prolonged federal control,” Hosain said.

Gohar said PTI would challenge the measures in the courts and the assemblies.

“We have not formally called off the long march at all. Our struggle, as I told you, will absolutely continue,” he said.

巴基斯坦已经控制了由伊姆兰·汗领导的正义运动党（PTI）执政的一个省份。以下是此举的意义以及接下来的走向。

2026年10月11日，巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省白沙瓦，警察守卫着通往红区的一条道路。[路透社]

巴基斯坦伊斯兰堡——联邦政府已直接控制开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省（KP），该省位于巴基斯坦西北部，此前一直由被监禁的前总理伊姆兰·汗领导的巴基斯坦正义运动党（PTI）执政。

周日，在总理谢赫巴兹·谢里夫的建议下，总统阿西夫·阿里·扎尔达里签署公告，宣布进入紧急状态，并宣布省政府无法再按照宪法运作，这是省长统治的法律依据。周一，内政国务部长塔拉勒·乔杜里表示，该省首席部长苏海尔·阿夫里迪已被拘留。

巴基斯坦在伊姆兰·汗所在政党执政的省份实施紧急状态（共4条，第1条）

巴基斯坦政府谈判失败后，支持伊姆兰·汗的大规模集会（共4个列表，此为第2个）

巴基斯坦暂停伊姆兰·汗领导的政党主导的省政府职务（共4项，此为第3项）

列表 4（共 4 题）：巴基斯坦的苏海尔·阿夫里迪能否为前总理伊姆兰·汗赢得自由？

“实施紧急状态的根本理由是维护法律和秩序、打击恐怖主义，以及拯救无辜民众免受恐怖活动的可怕后果，”法律部长阿扎姆·纳齐尔·塔拉尔周日在伊斯兰堡举行的新闻发布会上表示，新闻部长阿塔乌拉·塔拉尔、内政部长穆赫辛·纳克维和其他官员也出席了发布会。

自2013年以来一直执政该省的巴基斯坦正义运动党（PTI）拒绝了这一提议。此前，联邦政府与巴基斯坦正义运动党就计划举行的前往伊斯兰堡的游行（要求释放该党领导人）进行的谈判破裂。

以下是这两项措施的含义，谁现在管理这个省，以及这种安排可能会持续多久。

现在谁在掌管开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省？

根据政府的决定，费萨尔·卡里姆·昆迪省长将接管省政府的职能。昆迪隶属于巴基斯坦人民党（PPP），该党是谢里夫政府的盟友。

由谢里夫领导的巴基斯坦穆斯林联盟（谢里夫派）、人民党及其盟友占据多数席位的议会将接管由正义运动党占据多数席位的省议会的权力。公告称，首席部长、各部部长、顾问、特别助理和总检察长“应立即停止任职”。

拉合尔律师兼拉合尔管理科学大学 (LUMS) 兼职教师哈桑·阿卜杜拉·尼亚齐提出了不同的解释。

“然而，这并不意味着开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省议会或其民选首席部长已被永久罢免。更确切地说，是在紧急状态解除之前，他们暂时无法正常运作；一旦紧急状态解除，他们必须恢复正常运作。”他告诉半岛电视台。

一个由11名成员组成的顾问委员会将协助昆迪。已部署在该省的军队预计将协助他和他的团队维护法律和秩序。

另一项联邦法令设立了一个秘书处，负责管理12个“指定区”，其中大部分位于阿富汗边境沿线的原部落地区。该秘书处将由一名新增的首席秘书领导，其命令与省政府的命令具有同等法律效力。

纳克维在周日的新闻发布会上说：“没有任何省份被划分开来。只是这些地区是受战争影响的地区，目前需要更多的资金和关注，因此才将它们单独划出来。”

该命令还规定，要求司法机关与行政机关分离的宪法条款“不适用于”指定的地区。

“宪法中关于司法与行政分离的规定已被暂停，这允许行政官员履行司法职能，”拉合尔的宪法律师里达·侯赛因告诉半岛电视台。

2026年10月11日，巴基斯坦总统阿西夫·阿里·扎尔达里宣布开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省进入紧急状态并暂停该省政府运作后，巴基斯坦信息和广播部长阿塔乌拉·塔拉尔在伊斯兰堡举行的新闻发布会上发表讲话。[Ariba Shahid/路透社]

政府为何同时采取这两项措施？

巴基斯坦宪法第 232 条规定，当“省政府无法控制的内部动乱”威胁国家安全时，总统可以宣布进入紧急状态。

第 234 条适用于省长报告说，某个省份无法按照宪法进行治理的情况。

该公告称发生了“前所未有的暴力强度”的“恐怖袭击”，并表示省政府“未能展现出应对恐怖主义威胁的责任感、意愿和决心”。

根据总部位于伊斯兰堡的独立智库——巴基斯坦冲突与安全研究所（PICSS）的数据，2025年该国武装人员至少发动了1066起袭击，高于2024年的908起。

2026 年，袭击事件数量急剧上升，PICSS 记录显示，前九个月全国共发生 1232 起袭击事件，其中大部分发生在西南部的开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省和俾路支省。

“但这种情况非常严重和特殊，因此这两项规定中的要求，以及促使它们生效的条件，使得这两项规定都得到了执行，”塔拉尔说。

新闻部长阿塔乌拉·塔拉尔的言论更加激烈，他指责省政府与武装团体有联系。

他说：“从始至终，所有内阁成员都经过深思熟虑，一致认为开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省的巴基斯坦正义运动党政府与恐怖分子沆瀣一气。”但他并未提供任何证据。

纳克维表示，政府掌握了数十份针对省政府的证据，但这些证据至今仍未公开。

巴基斯坦正义运动党主席戈哈尔·阿里·汗质疑，如果安全问题集中在特定地区，为什么这些措施要在全省范围内实施。

“如果12个地区存在恐怖主义，需要进入紧急状态，那么为什么整个省都要实行省长统治呢？”他在政府简报会后于伊斯兰堡举行的新闻发布会上说道。

巴基斯坦正义运动党领导人、前省财政部长泰穆尔·贾格拉驳斥了政府的指控。

“当然，省政府一直在打击恐怖主义。我们每个人都有责任，无论个人还是集体都有责任。如果问题真的是恐怖主义，那么俾路支省应该比开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省更早宣布进入紧急状态，”他告诉半岛电视台。

自周日以来发生了什么？

PTI称，前首席部长阿夫里迪（Afridi）及其他党内领导人已被逮捕。

“我们知道首席部长、省主席朱奈德·阿克巴尔、议长巴巴尔·斯瓦蒂和其他一些领导人已被拘留。政府尚未透露他们的下落，”贾格拉说。

纳克维周日也曾表示，巴基斯坦正义运动党（PTI）成员可能会被拘留。

纳克维说：“当然，任何对维护法律和秩序有需要的人，我们都会将其拘留保护。但其中那些被通缉的人将被逮捕，其他人一旦法律和秩序好转就会被释放。”

塔拉尔在同一新闻发布会上转述纳克维的立场说，一些巴基斯坦正义运动党（PTI）人士已被预防性拘留。

PTI报道称，早在周日之前，就有多名省级部长和议员被拘留。

互联网监测机构 NetBlocks 周日晚间发布报告称，网络数据显示该省部分地区的网络连接出现严重中断。

周一，白沙瓦、马尔丹、斯瓦比和瑙谢拉等地的学校和学院被地区行政部门关闭。

与此同时，在旁遮普省，伊姆兰·汗的姐妹阿莉玛·汗、乌兹玛·汗和诺琳·尼亚齐自 9 月 20 日至 21 日以来一直被拘留，依据的公共秩序法允许预防性拘留 30 天。

2026年10月12日，在巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省宣布进入紧急状态并暂停该省巴基斯坦正义运动党政府执政的第二天，一名摩托车手骑车经过用来封锁红区的集装箱。[路透社]

这些措施能持续多久？

自 1949 年以来，各省至少八次被置于总督统治之下。开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省（当时称为西北边境省）在 1975 年和 1994 年都曾面临过这种情况。

由于扎尔达里在没有省议会决议的情况下采取了行动，宪法要求议会两院在 10 天内（即 10 月 21 日之前）批准紧急状态。

国民议会和参议院已定于周二召开会议。

该紧急状态必须在30天内提交议会联席会议审议。除非获得联席会议批准，否则该紧急状态将在两个月后失效。

然而，一旦获得批准，宪法并未规定具体的终止日期。紧急状态将一直有效，直至被撤销或两院全体议员过半数投票反对为止。

根据宪法第234条，总督统治的期限有单独的限制。议会可以每次延长两个月，但总共最多只能延长六个月。

侯赛因说：“紧急状态条款允许行政部门暂停某些基本权利，而且对紧急状态可以持续多久没有固定的时间限制，从而允许联邦政府长期控制。”

戈哈尔表示，巴基斯坦正义运动党将在法庭和议会中对这些措施提出质疑。

“我们根本没有正式停止长征。正如我告诉你们的，我们的斗争绝对会继续下去，”他说。