Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said for the first time that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and provincial assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati are under house arrest. Speaking on a private television programme on Sunday night, he said both were "in safe hands; there is no need to worry."
Afridi has not been seen in public since October 11, when the federal government imposed an emergency and governor's rule in the province. A day later a federal minister said only that he and some cabinet members were in preventive custody. With no further official detail, Afridi's brother and Swati's cousin have separately petitioned the Peshawar High Court for their recovery.
Kundi, who now runs the province, said that if there were cases against Afridi he would be charged, and if there were none he would be released. Asked why he was still being held if no case existed, the governor said he could give an update the following day. He said the same applied to Swati, while accusing the PTI lawmaker of "illegal and unconstitutional" acts as speaker.
Asked how many people had been genuinely detained, Kundi said he did not have figures, but estimated that 40 to 50 per cent were in "self-imposed arrest or self-concealment".
On how long governor's rule might last, he said the matter would be reviewed once six months were complete, adding: "But in my opinion, maybe it will run longer." He stressed this was a personal view that could be wrong, arguing that the centre and the province needed to be on the same page against terrorism.
The governor also repeated that there would be no talks with Afghanistan for now, and distanced the state from reported remarks by Malik Khan Marjan, a member of the newly formed Area Representative and Development Council, favouring dialogue with the Afghan Taliban. Attention now turns to the pending petitions in the Peshawar High Court and the update Kundi has promised.