Pakistan puts Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under emergency rule and suspends its PTI-led government

The news

Islamabad. On Sunday, October 11, President Asif Ali Zardari, on the federal cabinet’s recommendation, proclaimed an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Articles 232(1) and 234 of Pakistan’s Constitution, citing “deteriorating law and order”, rising terrorist attacks and a breakdown of constitutional machinery, The Hindu and The Indian Express report. The federal government may direct the Governor to take over the provincial government’s functions, and the Assembly’s powers pass to Parliament. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and his ministers must vacate office. The province was the only one ruled by jailed former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Afridi had been leading a march, begun at Lakki Marwat on October 4, for Khan’s release. PTI MP Junaid Akbar said Afridi had been arrested (AFP, in The Economic Times).