Imran Khan’s PTI braces to fight federal takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Islamabad says the PTI failed to lead the fight against armed groups, but analysts question the takeover. Save Share Islamabad, Pakistan —The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan is planning to legally challenge the federal government’s Sunday takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that the party governed. Sheikh Waqas Akram, the PTI’s central information secretary, told Al Jazeera that the party would challenge the imposition of emergency laws — suspending civil liberties — and governor’s rule in the province in court on Tuesday. A petition had been drafted by a legal committee headed by PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja, but Akram did not say whether it would be filed in the Supreme Court or the Federal Constitutional Court. The federal government’s moves have emerged as Pakistan’s latest political flashpoint, with competing narratives from the government and the PTI, at a time when the party was in the middle of a delayed march towards Islamabad, aimed at pressuring authorities to release former PM Khan, who has been in incarceration for more than three years. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday justified the government’s moves by arguing that federal rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was needed for Pakistan to effectively combat “terrorism” in the province that shares a porous border with Afghanistan. “No war can be won, however many resources you bring, whatever you do, until the government there leads it,” Naqvi said in Peshawar on Monday. On Sunday, President Asif Ali Zardari imposedemergency ruleand governor’s rule, suspending the PTI government in the northwestern province. The party has governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2013. Sohail Afridi, the suspended chief minister, and some members of his cabinet have been taken into preventive custody, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry confirmed on Monday. Afridi had been leading the march towards Islamabad seeking to free Khan, and despite the setbacks to the party, PTI leaders said the protest was still on. “The long march has not ended. But a historic crackdown against the party has begun,” Akram said. According to the proclamation signed on Sunday, the provincial government had “failed to demonstrate the ownership, will and intent to adequately deal with the menace of terrorism”. “The federal government’s position is clearly described. ‘A deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism’ as communicated after cabinet meeting....