Governor's rule in KP: what Governor Kundi, Sohail Afridi, PTI, Fazl and ANP said on their own verified X accounts

Key takeaways

• On Sunday, 11 October, President Asif Ali Zardari, on the Prime Minister's advice, imposed an emergency (Article 232) and governor's rule (Article 234) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• The chief minister, provincial cabinet and advisers have ceased to hold office. Their powers now rest with Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, assisted by an 11-member advisory council. The army has been deployed under Article 245.
• On his verified account, Governor Kundi called the decision a step for peace and appealed to people to set politics aside.
• PTI (Barrister Gohar, Asad Qaiser), JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and ANP chief Aimal Wali Khan all rejected the move on their own accounts. Fazl says JUI-F will challenge it in court.
• Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar says the step will bring "a new era of peace" and that the province did not come out on the streets for PTI.

How we checked these statements

This post only uses posts written by the politicians themselves on their own verified X (Twitter) accounts. We confirmed each account's verified status and checked that every post below is an original post, not a retweet. Posts by TV channels and news pages are not used as statements. Several posts that appeared on ministers' timelines turned out to be retweets of other users and were left out. Quotes are our English translations of the Urdu originals; each one links to the original post in the sources below.

What was announced

Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told a news conference in Islamabad, as reported by Radio Pakistan, that:

• the provincial government led by the chief minister "has ceased to exist" and all its powers have passed to the governor;
• an 11-member advisory council will run the province under the governor;
• a separate secretariat will run 12 districts directly under the federation;
• the army has been deployed under Article 245 to help maintain law and order;
• the grounds were the law and order situation and the provincial government's lack of support in the fight against terrorism; he said terrorism incidents in KP rose 196% in two and a half years;
• the National Assembly, the Senate and a joint sitting of Parliament will be summoned within days to endorse the steps.

Under Article 234, governor's rule lapses after two months unless a joint sitting of Parliament approves it, and it cannot last more than six months in total. The Express Tribune reports that Dr Muhammad Fakhr Alam Irfan has been appointed chief secretary.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi (@fkkundi)

In a message to "the brave people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa", the governor wrote that the federal government had taken "a decision for peace, the people's prosperity and the province's development". He appealed to people to "keep political differences aside" and unite for peace, adding: "I am your governor, but more than that I want to play my role as a servant of this soil and a guardian of your rights."

In the days before the decision, Kundi posted that he had briefed President Zardari along with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on the "deteriorating security situation" in KP, and wrote that the province "cannot be held hostage to the politics of anarchy and agitation".

Sohail Afridi (@SohailAfridiISF)

The chief minister's last post came on the morning of 11 October, before the proclamation was issued. He wrote that there was "no option except accepting our demands" and that PTI's long march would continue "until the demands are met", adding that in KP "only Imran Khan's policy will run".

He has not posted since the emergency was imposed. The Express Tribune reports PTI claims that Afridi and provincial party president Junaid Akbar were detained; the administration has not confirmed this.

PTI: Barrister Gohar Khan (@BarristerGohar) and Asad Qaiser (@AsadQaiserPTI)

• Barrister Gohar, PTI chairman: "We strongly condemn the imposition of emergency in the province and reject it completely. It is a deeply worrying and serious political mistake and an undemocratic step." He said there is "no disagreement on ending terrorism", but it cannot be used to "suppress the public's voice", and that the decision "can still be reversed in a few days".
• A day earlier, after meeting Afridi in Peshawar, Gohar posted that "3 of our ministers, 9 MPAs and 8 MNAs have been picked up" — a PTI claim that has not been independently confirmed.
• Asad Qaiser, former National Assembly speaker, called the decision "a direct attack on the province's mandate, democratic values and provincial autonomy" and said using Articles 232 and 234 for "political revenge" violates the spirit of the Constitution. He demanded the decision be withdrawn and thanked Maulana Fazlur Rehman for trying to mediate.

JUI-F: Maulana Fazlur Rehman (@MoulanaOfficial)

Fazl called 11 October "the darkest day of our democratic history" and said JUI-F rejects the decision "word for word". He wrote that the party will go to court, raise it in Parliament and take it to the public.

In a second post he gave his own account of the mediation: he said both PTI and the government had asked him to help, that the Prime Minister and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar agreed in a 6am meeting on 11 October to accept PTI's demands, and that during the cabinet meeting Dar called to tell him the cabinet had instead decided on governor's rule and an emergency. This is Fazl's account; the government has not publicly responded to it.

ANP: Aimal Wali Khan (@AimalWali)

The ANP president wrote that he still believes "governor's rule or an emergency is not the solution" and opposes it "on principle" because it is undemocratic. But he added that his opposition "does not mean we support PTI's style of governance", accusing PTI of ruining the province, and demanded accountability for both PTI and "those who brought it".

Federal government side

• Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah), Information Minister: the PM gave "a clear message to the facilitators of chaos and terrorism"; with the advisory council "a new era of peace, development and prosperity will begin". In another post he said that if PTI had public support "there would be crowds of hundreds of thousands in every district", but "not even a single road was blocked".
• Azma Bokhari (@AzmaBokhariPMLN), Punjab Information Minister: "Where terrorists are safe under the provincial government's shadow and the unarmed police and public are left at their mercy, there can only be an emergency."

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had not posted about the decision on their personal verified accounts at the time of writing.

On the ground

Dawn and The Express Tribune report road closures with containers in Peshawar, suspension of BRT services, closure of educational institutions in Peshawar district, postponement of matriculation exams, and mobile data disruption in parts of the province. Police sources told the Tribune that 59 PTI workers were arrested in Swabi.

What to watch

• The sessions of the National Assembly, the Senate and the joint sitting of Parliament to approve the proclamation.
• JUI-F's and PTI's petitions in court.
• Whether the detention of Sohail Afridi and other PTI leaders is confirmed.

This is a developing story. We will update it as new statements and official decisions come in.