Pakistan declares state of emergency in opposition stronghold areas... Prime Minister and others arrested

(Hanoi = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Jin-hyung = The Pakistani government declared a state of emergency in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, stripped the provincial government led by the main opposition Pakistan Justice Movement (PTI) of its authority, and arrested the provincial prime minister.

As the level of confrontation between the PTI and the federal government, which is demanding the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan (73), who was imprisoned on corruption charges, has recently increased, a strong backlash from the PTI is expected due to this move.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari announced on the 11th (local time) that he would declare a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to "increasing terrorist incidents and deteriorating security situation."

The President's Office explained that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif submitted a recommendation to declare a state of emergency to the cabinet, saying that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had failed to properly respond to the threat from Islamic militants, and President Zardari accepted the recommendation.

Pakistan's constitution allows the president to declare a state of emergency if there is a threat of war, foreign invasion, or "internal unrest beyond the control of the state."

Accordingly, the federal government announced that it had suspended the authority of the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government.

In addition, PTI's provincial Prime Minister Sohail Afridi and PTI's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief executive were arrested, PTI reported.

Since last month, PTI has been pressuring the federal government to hold a large-scale march from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the party's stronghold, to the capital Islamabad, demanding the release of former Prime Minister Khan, transfer to the hospital, and permission to visit his family.

Accordingly, the Sharif administration is strongly preventing the march by deploying tens of thousands of security forces to the Islamabad area and blocking the surrounding access roads with obstacles such as containers.

Commenting on the government's action, PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari said the current provincial government was "the only legitimately elected government" and criticized the declaration of emergency as an "absurd decision."

“This will only lead to more bloodshed, unrest and collateral damage,” he said, adding that while there was always room for dialogue, this move shows the federal government had no intention of negotiating in the first place.

Former prime minister Khan, a former cricket superstar, came to power in 2018, but after clashing with the military, which is considered a powerful force in Pakistan, he resigned in 2022 following a vote of no confidence in parliament.

In May of the following year, he was arrested on charges of corruption, and has since been convicted several times on charges of corruption and abuse of power, and is currently serving time in prison.

In recent years, supporters of former prime minister Khan have repeatedly held rallies across the country demanding his release, with some protests turning violent.