A joint sitting of Pakistan's parliament on Thursday approved the federal government's imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (the northwestern province bordering Afghanistan, long hit by militant violence), over loud protests from opposition lawmakers. The Shehbaz Sharif government imposed the measures on October 11, citing the provincial government's disengagement from counterterrorism efforts; the province was run by the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, which rejects the accusation and calls its removal unconstitutional. The move effectively displaces an elected opposition government amid rising militancy, and rights group Amnesty International has warned that emergency powers must not be used to suppress dissent.