Opposition and Government Clash in Senate Over KP Emergency, Ministers Defend Move as Constitutional Last Resort

ISLAMABAD: The emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dominated the Senate on Tuesday. Opposition senators called the move a departure from the Constitution and demanded it be withdrawn at once, while government ministers held their ground: everything, they insisted, had been done within the Constitution, and no other option had been left.

Ali Zafar: a test of the Constitution

Opening the debate, PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Ali Zafar said what was happening in the province was not a routine administrative step but a test of Pakistan’s Constitution. Terrorism had to be crushed with full force, he said, but that fight must not become a war on constitutional democracy itself. Citing Articles 232 and 234, he argued that emergency powers were no political weapon, and that the government still had to show the step was genuinely necessary and every constitutional requirement had been met. He described the move as a political crisis dressed up as a security solution. Opposition senators also tabled a resolution against the emergency and governor’s rule, demanding the elected chief minister and provincial cabinet be restored. Allama Raja Nasir Abbas called October 11 a black day and asked why, if the system had collapsed, the emergency covered only KP when Balochistan’s situation was no less dangerous.

The government’s reply: a deal would have averted this

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar told the house the federal cabinet had been right to end the reconciliation process with the PTI. Both the PML-N and the PPP had tried hard to talk, he said, but after consulting their chief minister the other side simply refused — and by the time Maulana Fazlur Rehman stepped in to mediate, matters had gone too far. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the draft had been amended as many as six times and Barrister Gohar had been contacted on October 10; had an agreement been reached then, he said, no emergency would have been imposed. Both coalition parties had examined every clause before deciding, he stressed, and no provision of the Constitution had been violated.

Protest in the National Assembly, sittings put off to Wednesday

The National Assembly, meanwhile, adjourned after a brief condolence sitting held because of a lawmaker’s death. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan pressed to speak but the speaker declined, saying political debate would take place on Wednesday — after which opposition members protested outside Parliament House. The Senate sitting was also adjourned until 4pm on Wednesday.