Sohail Afridi, KP assembly speaker in preventative custody: police
Non-functional Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, Sohail Afridi, and some of his cabinet members are in preventative custody, officials confirmed on Monday. The PTI had reported their detention on Sunday, shortly after the Centre imposed emergency and governor’s rule in the province under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. On Monday, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry told…
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi and several cabinet members are currently in preventative custody, according to officials. The detention took place shortly after the Centre imposed emergency and governor’s rule in the province, citing Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry confirmed Afridi's and some of his cabinet members' detention to Reuters.
If any of them face charges, they will be tried, but the others will be released. A senior police official also confirmed the detentions, stating that eight people, including Afridi, MNA Junaid Akbar, and assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati, were taken into preventative custody. Afridi's party members were reportedly unaware of his whereabouts as of Sunday.
The PTI has criticized the arrests, stating that they are politically motivated and aimed at weakening the PTI, undermining the elected government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and disregarding the democratic will of its people. The emergency follows a breakdown in talks between the PML-N-led federal government and the PTI-led KP government, primarily over counterterrorism policy.
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has taken over the province's administration, with an 11-member technocratic KP Advisory Council assisting him, with terrorism as the top priority.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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