Centre Finalises Preparations to Impose Governor’s Rule in KP: Sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has finalized all administrative and legal preparations to potentially declare an emergency or enforce governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), high-level official sources disclosed on Wednesday, signaling a dramatic escalation in political hostilities between the Centre and the provincial leadership.

According to insider sources, legal teams and key federal departments have drafted the necessary constitutional frameworks under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution of Pakistan. The contingency measures have reportedly been structured in response to deepening administrative deadlock, worsening law and order metrics, and the confrontational political posture maintained by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial administration.

Imposing governor’s rule in the frontier province would constitute a seismic political maneuver, effectively sidelining the provincial assembly and transferring direct executive authority to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi. Legal scholars and political analysts warn that invoking emergency clauses could provoke a severe constitutional crisis, triggering immediate judicial challenges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and inflaming public protests across the province.

While federal authorities emphasize that invoking such drastic measures remains a contingency of last resort, the relevant summaries and formal paperwork are ready for immediate submission to the federal cabinet and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should the ongoing inter-governmental standoff worsen over the coming days.