Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Named in Terrorism Case; Bilawal Says Provincial Emergency Could End if Opposition Engages on Counterterrorism
Islamabad — Sohail Afridi, the former chief minister of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has officially been added to a major terrorism case, joining a long list of political figures implicated under anti-terrorism legislation, NPR reported on October 18. The province, which borders Afghanistan, is now under emergency rule.
The terrorism case that names Afridi relates to an attack on a state-run radio station: supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan stormed the building and set it on fire after he was arrested in 2023. Khan himself is now facing terrorism charges, and in recent years Kashmiri, Pashtun and Baloch activists have also been accused of terrorism. Zoha Waseem, a researcher focused on policing in Pakistan, says it ties back to the law's wording: terrorism is "very broadly defined, and that's been the case for a few decades now under this law," which these days can cover anything from kidnapping for ransom and street crime to money laundering or supporting a banned organization. Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act came into effect in 1997, providing a parallel legal system for speedier trials amid sectarian and ethnic violence, and was amended several times after 9/11 to expand its definition and the powers granted to law enforcement.
Separately, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari signalled on Sunday that the federal government could lift emergency rule and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa if the opposition engages with Islamabad on an anti-terrorism plan, according to Dawn. Speaking to media in Karachi while visiting the Karsaz Monument on the 19th anniversary of the 2007 Karsaz bombing, Bilawal defended the federal takeover while placing the onus on the opposition: "If they really want to fight terrorists, and if they want that emergency and governor's rule in KP to end, they should engage with the federal government and politicians and discuss a united policy regarding the fight against terrorism." The takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, executed by the federal government citing the provincial administration's alleged "deliberate disengagement" from anti-terror efforts, followed a mobilisation drive and long march led by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to demand the release of the jailed former prime minister.
(GSM, via NPR and Dawn)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：白沙瓦（开伯尔-普什图省首府）老城（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Omer Wazir 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0 授权 / Photo: Old Peshawar City, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, by Omer Wazir, CC BY-SA 2.0.
