On 11 October 2026, emergency provisions endorsed by President Asif Ali Zardari placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the direct administrative authority of the federal government, marking a shift in how the province is governed. Under the ruling, administrative authority over the province — home to roughly 40 million residents — shifted away from the PTI-led government and into the hands of the administration headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The federal government framed the action as a response to deteriorating security conditions and armed violence, while PTI pushed back against the move, characterising it as a politically motivated attempt to remove its elected officials from power. Rallies calling for the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, who remains in detention, have formed part of the backdrop against which this decision has taken shape.

Deteriorating security conditions across the province were put forward by central authorities as the primary grounds for removing the PTI-led administration from power. Complaints from officials pointed to what they described as insufficient steps taken by provincial authorities to curb armed groups — notably Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a movement linked to a pattern of lethal attacks on both security forces and members of the public.

Invoking Articles 232 and 234 of Pakistan's Constitution, the administration put the emergency declaration into effect. Under this arrangement, executive authority held by the chief minister and provincial cabinet passes to the governor, who takes on responsibility for overseeing the province's day-to-day affairs with an advisory council providing support. Eleven advisers were designated to assist the governor with provincial administration, the state-run media outlet reported.

Word circulated about the holding of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and PTI provincial president Junaid Akbar in custody, coming to light in the wake of the announcement. Talal Chaudhry, serving as Minister of State for Interior, told a broadcast outlet that Afridi along with a number of cabinet colleagues had been taken into preventive custody. Decisions on whether those held would face formal charges — or be released — rested with authorities, according to officials.

Afridi, who took office as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's chief minister in 2025, had been organising demonstrations calling for Imran Khan's release. Posting on X, Afridi stated that the party would hold its ground, while PTI maintained its opposition to the governor's rule arrangement, characterising the measure as a politically motivated effort to undermine the party's elected representatives.

Akram, serving as party spokesperson, described the arrests of Afridi and Akbar as reflecting what he called politically motivated decision-making on the part of the government rather than any substantive effort to address security matters — a position that came alongside broadcaster reports indicating opposition parties were considering court action, public protests, and further measures in response to the federal government's directive.

Unrest rolled through portions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from early October onward, with crowds calling for Imran Khan's freedom while also voicing objections to counterterrorism operations the military has been conducting near the Afghan frontier. Residents in the affected areas reported that the operations left civilians harmed and local communities bearing the damage.

PTI's electoral footing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has held firm across more than ten years of provincial politics. Holding that provincial office continuously from 2013, the party secured another term when voters went to the polls in the 2024 general elections. That province's standing in the national political landscape shifted considerably once Khan was removed from the prime ministership by a parliamentary confidence vote in 2022.

Held in custody since August 2023, Khan has been contending with a string of legal proceedings that encompass corruption allegations among other charges. Prosecutors are pursuing a case against the party's founder that the organisation attributes to political motivations — an explanation the government has not accepted.

Three earlier stretches of governor's rule have marked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's administrative history, falling in 1975, 1994, and again in 1999. Governor's rule was extended to Punjab in 2009 as well, with the central authorities moving to strip the province's administration — then operating under Shehbaz Sharif — of its governing authority. A six-month window has been set for both the emergency and governor's rule to run concurrently, with any extension dependent on the relevant constitutional provisions.