Athens, October 31, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir’s “hard-state” doctrine is based on the assumption that resistance stems from an insufficient use of force, a report has stated, warning that the approach could deepen unrest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The report identified the province as a critical test of the strategy, given its population of more than 40 million, deeply entrenched political organisation, an armed insurgency operating across the region and its border with a hostile Afghanistan.
According to a report in Greek City Times, the extraction of critical minerals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is also unlikely to progress at the expected pace, as geological reserves have yet to be established, processing capacity is largely absent and security conditions continue to deteriorate.
The worsening security situation could also prompt Pakistan’s military establishment to seek increased federal funding for security operations while tightening its control over the province’s mineral wealth and potentially selling the resources to Western buyers, the report stated.
“Many people are asking whether Islamabad suspended an elected provincial government to seize its mineral wealth. The evidence is more damaging than the speculation: the constitutional machinery activated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 11 October 2026 dissolves the obstacle that had blocked federal control of the province’s minerals for at least 18 months. Under Articles 232 and 234, the federal government, backed by the military establishment, assumed emergency powers and governor’s rule; federal law now prevails wherever it conflicts with provincial law, and the military took Chief Minister Sohail Afridi into ‘preventive’ custody,” the report stated.
It added that minerals are a provincial subject under Pakistan’s Eighteenth Amendment. With the province no longer having a legislature capable of exercising that right, suspicion circulating across Pashtun political networks was, it argued, a rational response to the sequence of events rather than a conspiracy theory.
The report warned that the security consequences of Pakistan’s actions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would far outweigh any revenue generated for the state.
It cited figures showing that police fatalities rose to 122 in the first half of 2026, compared with 63 during the corresponding period a year earlier. Deaths linked to violence also increased to 556 between July and September, up from 475 in the previous quarter.
Islamabad cited the deteriorating security situation to justify imposing emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Removing the only elected tier of government that retained legitimacy among Pashtuns, arresting its chief minister, and opening the province’s resources to federal and foreign disposal will not reverse that trend. It hands militant groups a grievance narrative requiring no exaggeration, and it repeats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the dynamic that made Balochistan ungovernable,” the report noted.
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