The International Human Rights Foundation, in a statement issued on Tuesday, characterised emergency measures imposed on Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as an army-backed consolidation of power, and called on authorities to reinstate democratic freedoms throughout the area. Via a post on X, the foundation set out its objections to conditions across the province following the imposition of the emergency period, pointing to the stationing of troops, the detention of former Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, and the restriction of internet access.

The foundation called for the order to be reversed, asserting that fundamental rights cannot be suspended through executive decree. The rights group described the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — where security forces have been deployed in public spaces, the elected regional leader has been detained, and communications access has been restricted — as an instance of authoritarian governance imposed with military backing. Calls for the release of Sohail Afridi and other detained leaders were also put forward in the statement, which asserted that individual liberties cannot be removed through executive decree alone.

Amnesty International separately flagged Pakistan's move to place Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under emergency provisions and governor rule, warning in its statement that such steps carry the potential to erode basic rights, restrict open expression, and broaden the armed forces' footprint within the province.

Babu Ram Pant, serving as Amnesty International's Deputy Director for South Asia, noted that accounts of arbitrary detentions — among them the arrest of a provincial chief minister and other prominent political figures — alongside internet outages across the province had prompted questions about whether the emergency measures were necessary and proportionate to the situation at hand. Pant added that such measures do not grant unlimited authority to restrict rights, suppress dissent, or consolidate power, and that any derogation from human rights obligations under international law must stay within the narrow boundaries that international law itself permits.

On 11 October, a state of emergency under Article 232 and governor rule under Article 234 of Pakistan's Constitution took effect after President Asif Ali Zardari granted formal assent to the measures put forward by the federal cabinet. Officials pointed to a rise in armed incidents across the province alongside what they characterised as a breakdown in the administrative structures that normally keep local governance functioning.

Under the emergency provisions, Pakistan's national legislature gains authority to pass legislation governing the province directly, while protections covering assembly, association, and expression become subject to lawful restriction. A presidential notification has shifted legislative authority over the provincial assembly's domain to the federal parliament. Positions held by the Chief Minister, provincial cabinet ministers, advisers, and special assistants are set to lapse once the revised arrangement takes effect.

Police spread through Swabi district on Sunday, taking Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members into custody and working to prevent a public rally that Sohail Afridi — a former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — had been scheduled to address at Shewa Adda in Razaar tehsil. Tightened police presence and broader security measures took hold across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa once governor's rule and the state of emergency were put in place.