The story so far: The Government of Pakistan on Sunday (October 11, 2026) imposed emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , the restive northwestern Province where the PTI — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party founded by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan — has been in power.
In a social media post, President Asif Ali Zardari said he had approved the summary recommendations of the Cabinet that had earlier met under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The PTI had gone to the Supreme Court seeking intervention to help Mr. Khan. The top court permitted the former Prime Minister to receive better treatment at the Shifa International Hospital of Islamabad and allowed his family members to meet him. However, the government did not follow the instructions.
Instead, he was taken to the state-run PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences) during the night of August 20-21, where he was declared medically fit.
In recent months, they had announced plans for a long march to capital Islamabad. Mr. The PTI, the ruling party in the Province, has been agitating for the release of its leader Mr. Khan for over three years.
The march that had been scheduled for September 27 was later postponed to October 4, as the government and the PTI continued to negotiate. the province has been dealing with multiple centres of power as Faisal Karim Kundi, the Governor, was chosen as the representative of the federal government While Chief Minister Sohail Afridi came to power in October 2025.
Zardari cited growing incidents of terrorism in the Province and dismissed the provincial government saying “terrorist attacks have increased to an unprecedented level of violent intensity posing grave threat to the lives and properties of the people of the province”. Atif Mashal, Afghanistan’s former ambassador to Pakistan, said the Pakistani military is acting according to its regional agenda by getting the PML-PPP (Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party) government to impose emergency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The Opposition’s response
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) of Pakistan, has announced they will launch a peaceful protest against the decision of invoking emergency provisions of the Pakistani Constitution while dismissing a democratically elected government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Separately, the PTI is holding rallies and protests in different parts of the country and hundreds of leaders of the party, including Mr. Khan’s three sisters, have courted arrest.
In addition, according to social media reports, some of the tribal chiefs of the region have called for armed resistance against the military-backed government of Islamabad.
