Islamabad, Oct 12 (IANS) Chief Minister of Pakistan’s northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, and several cabinet members were detained after the provincial government was suspended under emergency rule, local media reported on Monday.
The leaders who are from the former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party will be charged and tried in the legal cases pending against them, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told media.
Afridi, MNA Junaid Akbar and assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati were taken into “preventive custody,” leading Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
Meanwhile, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram has said Afridi’s “arrest” could not be viewed in isolation from the federal government’s decision to impose emergency and governor’s rule.
He said that the arrests had “exposed” the political nature of the federal government’s actions.
“These measures are not directed at addressing security challenges; they are intended to weaken [the] PTI, undermine the elected government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and disregard the democratic will of its people,” Akram added.
Dawn noted that the Governor’s rule also coincides with PTI’s long march to Islamabad, which was led by Afridi.
Afridi on Saturday said that he will not accept any “illegal move”, including the imposition of Governor’s rule or emergency.
He made the remarks during the seventh day of the ‘Long March’ while addressing his supporters in Mardan.
He noted that if Governor’s rule was imposed or any “wrong decision” was taken, the long march would head to Peshawar instead of Swabi and move towards D-Chowk in Islamabad.
He also urged the public to come out for the release of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, noting that Pakhtuns would not be intimidated by threats, guns or bullets.
PTI has vowed to continue with the march as planned, while the police have been directed to thwart any such moves.
Meanwhile, the Governor House in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was set on fire amid escalating political tensions and a deteriorating security situation in the region.
In videos circulating on social media, the Governor House was seen engulfed in flames, while other footage showed police firing and shelling in cities across the province.
–IANS
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