Imran Khan’s PTI braces to fight federal takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

What the report says

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is preparing a court challenge to the federal government’s takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the northwestern province it has governed since 2013. According to Al Jazeera, party leaders said they planned to contest the emergency measures and governor’s rule imposed after President Asif Ali Zardari suspended the provincial administration on Sunday.

The move has become a major political dispute in Islamabad. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the federal government needed direct control in order to better confront armed groups in a province bordering Afghanistan. He said the province’s leadership had not adequately taken responsibility for the fight against “terrorism.” PTI officials rejected that argument, saying the emergency order was unconstitutional and that the party had not agreed to the measures.

Al Jazeera reported that suspended chief minister Sohail Afridi and some cabinet members were taken into preventive custody. The article also noted that PTI was already in the middle of a delayed march toward Islamabad, aimed at pressuring authorities to release Khan, who has been jailed for more than three years.

The dispute matters because it mixes security policy with Pakistan’s broader power struggle between Khan’s party, the federal government and the military. Analysts quoted by Al Jazeera disagreed on whether the takeover was mainly about security, administration or politics, underscoring the uncertainty around the federal intervention.