Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has been arrested following the imposition of emergency rule in the province, with multiple news outlets confirming the detention on Sunday. The arrest marks a dramatic escalation in the federal government’s move against the PTI-led provincial administration.
K-P Information Minister Shafi Jan announced the arrest in a post on X, saying the chief minister was taken into custody shortly after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the emergency proclamation. Jan called on people across the province, including Kohat residents and the tribal districts, to march on Peshawar, adding that he would stand among the crowds wherever they gathered. PTI lawmaker Junaid Akbar also confirmed the arrest, saying it was carried out alongside the party’s provincial president.
Street reaction began swiftly. Protesters gathered in Peshawar while authorities placed shipping containers across key points in the capital, and security was heightened outside the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad.
PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari told Reuters the emergency would only lead to further bloodshed, instability and collateral damage, adding that there had been room for talks.
The detention followed President Zardari’s approval of emergency and governor’s rule in K-P on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. Under the proclamation, the chief minister, provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants and the advocate general cease to hold office immediately, with the governor empowered to assume the province’s executive authority.
PTI leaders reacted sharply. Party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the emergency as unconstitutional and undemocratic, calling it an extremely concerning and serious political mistake. Former federal minister Asad Umar said the prime minister and the president had set in motion a process that could dismantle the existing system. Junaid Akbar vowed that the party’s long march would go ahead regardless, saying participants had reached Swabi. Ali Muhammad Khan termed the emergency a non-political move against the mandate of millions, while former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser declared both governor’s rule and the emergency unacceptable.
