Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have detained 278 members of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) since the emergency was imposed in the province on Sunday, according to police officials quoted by the AFP news agency. The figures emerged on Monday as the federal government tightened its grip on the province a day after President Asif Ali Zardari suspended the PTI-led provincial government under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. Ousted chief minister Sohail Afridi was taken into preventive custody along with some of his cabinet members, while former chief minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur said he had been placed under house arrest at his residence in Dera Ismail Khan. The party’s planned march towards Islamabad, meanwhile, fizzled out in Swabi.
A province-wide crackdown
Domestic outlets reported matching tallies from their own police sources: the Express Tribune reported that police detained 59 PTI workers in Swabi and six others in Khyber district, while Dawn quoted Shangla’s district police officer as confirming that more than two dozen PTI workers had been taken into custody in his district and that further raids were ongoing.
The detentions accompanied sweeping security deployments. Shipping containers blocked major roads, including the Swabi Interchange, the Jehangira Bridge and the bridge over the Indus River on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway. Heavy police contingents were deployed at Aman Chowk in Swabi, Topi and Shewa Adda, while mobile phone and PTCL internet services were suspended in Swabi and TransPeshawar halted its BRT services. In Peshawar, much of the Cantonment came to a standstill, with containers blocking roads leading to the Provincial Assembly, Governor House and Khyber Road, the Tribune reported.
The march that did not reach Swabi
The PTI caravan, led by Afridi, had been expected to reach Swabi on the night of October 11 as part of its mobilisation towards Islamabad. But after the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule, the anticipated show of strength failed to materialise in the district, where the party’s local leadership remained largely absent and no major demonstration was reported.
Afridi had told supporters on Saturday that if any “wrong decision” was taken, the long march would head to Peshawar and then move towards D-Chowk in Islamabad. Police have been directed to thwart any such moves.
Leaders in custody
Federal junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry confirmed to Reuters on Monday that Afridi and some of his cabinet members had been taken into preventive custody on Sunday at the chief minister’s house in Peshawar. Those with cases against them would be charged and tried while the others would be released, he said. An administrative official, also speaking anonymously, told AFP that Afridi had been placed in “protective custody” in his official residence but was later moved to another location, which the official declined to disclose.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said Afridi’s custody could not be viewed in isolation from the federal government’s decision to impose emergency and governor’s rule. He argued that the arrests had exposed the political nature of the federal action and were intended to weaken the PTI, undermine the elected government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and disregard the democratic will of its people.
Schools shut, examinations postponed
Daily life was disrupted across the province. All educational boards in KP postponed the matriculation examinations scheduled for October 12 until further notice; the papers had originally been scheduled to begin on October 7 before being deferred because of the PTI’s long march. Educational institutions in Peshawar district remained closed on Monday. In Shangla, the deputy commissioner ordered the closure of all public and private educational institutions and imposed Section 144, prohibiting gatherings across the district.
Both sides dig in
The federal government has said the PTI-led provincial government would remain “non-functional” until the security situation improves, accusing the provincial administration of failing to deal with militants in a province that borders Afghanistan. The 11-member advisory council assisting Governor Faisal Karim Kundi is now overseeing the provincial administration, and the army has been authorised to be deployed in aid of civil power.
The PTI has vehemently opposed the constitutional measures, describing them as undemocratic and a grab for power. Party chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said the measures would not resolve the province’s security issues, adding that the party would challenge the decision in court, in the assemblies and through public forums. Gohar also claimed that around 1,500 PTI workers were imprisoned in Punjab.
The latest confrontation caps a week of escalating tension that began with days of PTI rallies demanding Imran Khan’s release, which the party said were also fuelled by harsh economic conditions. The government says the emergency proclamation for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Articles 232 and 234 was necessary to address the worsening law-and-order situation and the provincial government’s disengagement from counterterrorism. For continuing coverage, see PakMirror’s latest Pakistan politics coverage.
