Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed an 11-member monitoring committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to oversee governance, law and order and day-to-day administration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a day after the federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in the province.
The committee was constituted at a meeting chaired by the prime minister on Monday. It will monitor the province’s administrative affairs, the security situation and public concerns, and brief the federal leadership on developments. It will also coordinate the federal government’s response to the evolving situation in KP, according to official sources.
Who is on the committee
Apart from Dar, who will act as the committee’s convener, the panel includes Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Amir Muqam, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.
The Pakistan Peoples Party, the Balochistan Awami Party and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party will each have one representative on the committee, taking its total membership to 11 and widening the political base of the federal government’s move.
Dawn reported that the committee had been formed informally without an official notification so far. A source close to the prime minister told the newspaper that the body would monitor governance and security issues in KP on a daily basis and report to the prime minister.
What the committee will do
The body will maintain close liaison with the new set-up in KP and provide assistance in the discharge of its duties and in security-related matters, the source said. At its first meeting on Monday, it reviewed the prevailing situation in the province and discussed measures to address law and order challenges, maintain administrative continuity and provide relief to the affected population, officials said.
The federal monitoring panel is separate from the 11-member technocratic advisory council Governor Faisal Karim Kundi formed to run KP affairs, which met for the first time at the Governor House in Peshawar on Sunday. The Dar-led committee sits above it at the federal level, watching both governance and security.
Parliament summoned on Tuesday
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned separate sessions of the Senate and the National Assembly for Tuesday at 6pm, apparently to secure parliamentary endorsement of the emergency proclamation and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a constitutional requirement.
Minister of State for Law Barrister Aqeel Malik said the period of emergency and governor’s rule could extend beyond six months, adding that its length would depend on the security situation in the province.
The prime minister has also summoned a meeting of the parliamentary parties of the PML-N and its coalition partners on Tuesday to take them into confidence over the imposition of governor’s rule and the emergency. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi will brief the participants on the security situation, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar will explain the legal aspects of the decisions, and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry will brief them on the agenda of the parliamentary sessions.
Reactions and context
The emergency, imposed on Sunday under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution after the suspension of the PTI-led provincial government, has drawn condemnation from opposition parties, lawyers’ bodies and rights groups. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has announced a black day for Tuesday with a boycott of court proceedings.
PTI leaders have described the measures as a power grab. The party’s ousted chief minister, Sohail Afridi, was taken into preventive custody on Sunday, and police say hundreds of party workers have been detained in the province since.
In a related development, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Monday that 10 armoured personnel carriers of the Islamabad Police had been handed over to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police to strengthen counterterrorism operations in the province.
What happens next
Tuesday’s parliamentary sessions will be closely watched, as will the first moves of both the Dar-led federal committee and the Kundi-led advisory council. With parliament in session and the government signalling that the emergency could run well beyond six months, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa appears set for an extended period of direct federal oversight. Follow PakMirror’s latest Pakistan politics coverage for further developments.
