Bilawal Offers to Press PM to End KP Emergency if PTI Agrees to Dialogue

ISLAMABAD: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has offered to personally ask Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to end the KP emergency if the PTI agrees to political dialogue and helps create conditions in which the measure is no longer needed.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Bilawal blamed the PTI-led provincial government for the circumstances behind the proclamation, calling its actions a “political suicide attack” on its own government. At the same time, he renewed his offer of talks and said the emergency was a temporary measure, not a permanent one.

What Bilawal told the House

The session was summoned to debate the emergency and governor’s rule in KP. The question hour was suspended; Tariq Fazal Chaudhry tabled the motion and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar opened the discussion.

Bilawal, a former foreign minister, said President Asif Ali Zardari had approved the emergency in line with the Constitution. He said the government had tried to engage the opposition before approving the move and described the emergency as a step taken out of necessity.

“I am still asking the government today to extend its hand towards the opposition for negotiations,” he said. He added that if political dialogue produced an agreement and the situation improved to the point where the emergency was no longer required, he would personally stand in the House and request the prime minister to end it.

Where the KP emergency stands

The offer lands in the middle of a fast-moving standoff that Feature Pakistan has been tracking:

• The Senate endorsed the KP emergency resolution by a majority vote amid opposition protest, giving the measure upper-house backing.
• The National Assembly also backed the emergency, while the PTI took its challenge to the Peshawar High Court.
• Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has clarified that the emergency applies to all of KP, not just 12 districts as first reported.
• PTI voices, including Mahmood Khan Achakzai, have warned that Sindh could face governor’s rule next over water and mines disputes.

Readers can follow the full thread: the Senate’s endorsement of the KP emergency resolution, the National Assembly backing and the PTI’s court challenge, the clarification that the emergency covers all of KP, and Achakzai’s warning about Sindh. The PTI has separately sought production orders for nine detained MNAs ahead of the assembly session.

The terrorism argument

Bilawal said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the province worst hit by terrorism, though militancy remained a nationwide problem. He criticised the KP chief minister for refusing to cooperate with the federal government on counterterrorism, saying he had publicly ruled out confronting militancy the centre’s way.

“If this was not a political suicide, then what else was it?” he asked, arguing that the provincial leadership’s own statements had left the president, the centre and even him with no legal or political reason to oppose the emergency.

He said deadlocked talks before the PTI’s long march had nearly produced a joint federal-provincial anti-terror pact, including declaring the worst-hit areas of KP as “terrorist” areas.

Responding to PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan’s speech, Bilawal criticised him for wanting to set the terrorism question aside. He stressed that Pakistan’s situation had grown more complicated because of what he called India’s belligerence and sponsorship of terrorism.

Opening the debate, Law Minister Tarar said the emergency was imposed because of threats to national security from rising terrorism. He rejected comparisons with the emergency imposed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 1999, saying the two situations were different.

Bilawal said the PPP backed the emergency but warned that continued confrontation could harm every side, and that dialogue was the only route to the consensus needed against terrorism.

Frequently asked questions

Why was an emergency imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

The federal government cites rising terrorism as a national security threat the province failed to address. President Zardari approved the proclamation, and both houses have backed it.

What did Bilawal offer the PTI?

He offered to personally ask Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to end the emergency if the PTI engages in political dialogue and helps create conditions in which the measure is no longer needed.

Has the Senate backed the emergency?

Yes. The Senate endorsed the KP emergency resolution by a majority vote amid opposition protest.

Can the emergency be challenged in court?

The PTI has taken its challenge to the Peshawar High Court, arguing against the National Assembly’s backing of the measure. The case is pending.