Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that terrorism, rather than politics, was the main issue between the Federal government and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, urging the provincial authorities to address gaps in policing, counter-terrorism capacity and governance. Around 6,200 terrorism-related incidents had been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past two years, resulting in around 1,200 fatalities, the minister said in a post on social media platform X. 

He said that Afghan nationals had carried out 37 suicide attacks during the period, while 14 such attacks had taken place during the current year, with the majority allegedly involving Afghan nationals. Khawaja Asif said the KP Police had a total strength of around 125,000 personnel, of whom 13,000 were deployed on VIP protocol duties, while 17,000 sanctioned posts remained vacant. 

He said the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the merged districts was almost non-functional, with only 17 bulletproof vehicles and a total strength of around 3,300 personnel, adding that only 25 of them were permanent employees while the rest were working on contracts. The minister said that political use of the Police Act had also affected the operational capacity of the police. He said the police had sought Rs42 billion for reconstruction of police posts to counter terrorist attacks, but the KP government had released only Rs1.2 billion. 

He said that although documents showed expenditure of Rs42 billion, the actual amount had been misappropriated. Responding to PTI's argument that if the Army was deployed along the border, terrorists could not enter the country, Khawaja Asif questioned the party's approach towards militancy. He said PTI had remained in power or exercised political influence in KP for the past 13 years, adding that former prime minister Imran Khan had consistently favoured engagement and negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). 

The minister said that after becoming prime minister, Imran Khan had advocated dialogue with terrorists and claimed to know how to end terrorism in KP. He said that Lt Gen (R) Faiz Hameed was also used to advance that policy, adding that the consequences of the policy had been borne by KP and Pakistan. Khawaja Asif said the Pakistan Army had made the state's policy clear that terrorists would be eliminated and that the state policy was based on action against terrorists rather than negotiations with them. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)