ISLAMABAD — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday declared a state of emergency in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan and suspended its government, which is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, ahead of a planned march on Islamabad by supporters demanding his release.

Zardari acted on the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet, according to a statement from the president’s office. The measures place the province under the authority of the governor, who represents the federal government.

The announcement came hours after Sharif’s office said that the federal Cabinet had recommended emergency rule, accusing the provincial government of “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism.”The province’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, on Saturday urged supporters to prepare to march on Islamabad. Afridi launched the protest campaign last week, leading marches through several districts in the province.

Sharif’s government has been urging Afridi since last month to postpone the march, citing a surge in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest. It has also accused Khan’s party of sympathizing with the militant group, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies.