Bilawal says KP governor's rule could end if opposition joins anti-terror plan

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that the emergency and governor's rule imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could end if the opposition, led by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), engaged with the federal government and agreed on a joint plan to fight terrorism. He spoke to reporters in Karachi while marking the 19th anniversary of the 2007 Karsaz bombings.

The federal government imposed governor's rule and an emergency in the province on 11 October, citing what it called the provincial government's "deliberate disengagement" from the fight against terrorism. The move followed a PTI mobilisation drive and protest march demanding Imran Khan's release. Bilawal accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of being unwilling to confront militants and said that was why his party had backed the decision.

He said attacks were now taking place "from Khyber to Khuzdar" and blamed decisions taken after ا.ا.ا came to power in Kabul in 2021. He claimed that militants who had been in Afghanistan were allowed to return to Swat, Malakand and the former tribal areas, and that some prisoners were freed. Pakistan has long accused Kabul of sheltering TTP fighters, a charge Kabul denies.

Opposition parties have rejected the measures. The Peshawar High Court has fixed 20 October to hear petitions from several parties, including PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, seeking to have the emergency and governor's rule declared unconstitutional.

Bilawal said Governor Faisal Karim Kundi had been nominated by the PPP but was now, under the constitution, a representative of the federal government. He added that he would keep talking to and advising the governor.