Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says Governor’s Rule is among the options being weighed for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Express Tribune).
What he said
“We have already told them that whatever legal option we have, we will consult the Law Ministry, and the prime minister will decide.”
He spoke at a press conference in Lahore on Monday.
What prompted it
Security. The attack on the Kohat Police Lines on 18 September, in which 21 people were killed including 15 police officers, and an exchange of fire in Hangu in which six Army personnel were killed.
Naqvi criticised PTI for proceeding with its 27 September march despite the security situation, and said party leaders had not attended military funerals.
What Governor’s Rule would mean
The suspension of an elected provincial government, with the province administered through the governor — a federal appointee — on the federal government’s advice.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is governed by PTI, the opposition party, and its chief minister Sohail Afridi is to lead the 27 September march on Islamabad.
The bar is deliberately high
Under Article 234 of the Constitution, the President may act on a report from the governor, or otherwise, if satisfied that a provincial government cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution. A proclamation must then be laid before a joint sitting of Parliament and expires in two months unless approved.
So it is not a decision the federal cabinet can simply take and keep. It requires a constitutional finding about a province’s governability and, within two months, the votes of both houses.
The difficulty with the security rationale
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has borne the heaviest toll of terrorism in Pakistan for years. If the test is whether a province suffers attacks, it has been met repeatedly under governments of every party — and the security forces conducting operations there answer to the federal government, not the provincial one.
Policing is provincial; the military response is not. A finding that a provincial administration cannot govern because militants attacked a police compound would have to explain which of those failures is the province’s.
The timing will be read
Six days before an opposition march that the province’s chief minister intends to lead, with the party’s leader imprisoned and his family detained in Lahore, a federal minister has said the removal of that province’s government is under consideration.
Naqvi has not said the government will do it. He has said it is on the table, which is itself a message.
What is not established
No constitutional provision was cited in the remarks as reported, no timeline was given, and the Law Ministry’s advice has not been disclosed. PTI had not responded publicly at the time of writing, and the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not commented.
[Image: The Express Tribune]
