CM Afridi strikes defiant tone as federal ministers rail against KP govt's counter-terror fight

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday struck a defiant tone and again panned the Centre’s counterterrorism policy as federal ministers railed against his government’s efforts to combat terrorism.

Afridi, who was elected as the KP CM in October 2025, has repeatedly voiced his opposition to the federal government’s policies on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.

Earlier in the day, Kashmir affairs and frontier regions minister Amir Muqam held a press conference in Peshawar, where he slammed the PTI and Afridi for focusing on the party’s planned long march rather than the security challenge that KP was facing.

Later, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, during a press briefing in Islamabad, highlighted flaws in the KP government’s “leadership” and use of resources to fight terrorism.

This was followed by another press conference in Peshawar, where the prime minister’s coordinator to KP, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, and MNA Samar Haroon Bilour presented a white paper on the KP government’s “failure” to equip police with sophisticated weapons.

Meanwhile, addressing a meeting regarding law and order in Peshawar, the KP CM stressed that merely providing resources to the police would not solve the problem until there was a policy shift.

“We repeatedly stated that the state’s current policy was flawed. The blood of our Pakhtuns will flow again,” Afridi said, regretting that federal ministers “dismissed our repeated warnings as propaganda and lies”.

The chief minister highlighted that he had been consistently calling for a change to the “failed policy of 22 years”.

The PTI leader declared he would not back down from his stance over threats of imposition of governor’s rule or a state of emergency.

Afridi called for a new counterterrorism policy to be formulated that took all stakeholders into confidence, including the provincial government, administration and police.

He contended that if the new policy was implemented as proposed, peace could be restored in KP within 100 days — “yet no one is willing to listen”.

“Some people act as if they know it all and are unwilling to listen to the stakeholders of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said. “Where is the country being led? Is the blood of our people so cheap that it should be sacrificed for the sake of politics?”

CM Afridi also defended his government’s performance, recalling that it had diverted Rs35 billion from the development budget to the police force, doubling its allocation.

He added that the Special Branch was being stabilised and modern weaponry and essential gear were being provided to the police force.

The KP CM went on to accuse the federal government of adopting a “dual-standard policy”: “one for the favourites and another for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”, terming this unacceptable.

He again expressed concern over Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s comments that the other three provinces posed a threat rather than India, noting that she was contradicting the state’s stance that New Delhi had a role in sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.

“Federal ministers label the residents of KP as terrorists and savages; they are forgiven because they are favourites … no action is taken against them,” the PTI leader said.

Azam Tarar says governor’s rule or emergency can happen

Meanwhile, calls from federal representatives for imposing governor’s rule or an emergency in KP intensified, with Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar saying that such a move could be made if required.

“If such conditions, where the constitution demands governor’s rule to be implemented or an emergency declared, are there or they arise, it can and will definitely happen,” he told Geo News.

“If the mechanism in the constitution requires it, all these things will happen,” Azam said.

In his media talk at Peshawar Press Club, Muqam said “all conditions” required by the law for imposing governor’s rule existed.

Criticising Afridi’s governance, Muqam asserted that his “CM-ship would not continue and no one will be able to save him”.

“Afridi sahib, be ready, you will be behind bars. You will be held accountable for the loot and plundering you have done,” the minister said.

He criticised the PTI’s alleged lack of concern regarding the security challenges, contending that the party did not have enough public support.

The federal minister described the Afridi-led provincial government as a complete failure on all fronts, claiming that it had neglected public welfare and that corruption was widespread in KP.

Muqam further said that PTI leaders were conducting political activities across the country and did not appear to have any fear of terrorist attacks, even as other parties’ leaders faced such threats.

Separately, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi held a meeting with Muqam to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in the province and political developments, state-run APP reported.

NA Standing Committee on Defence Chairman Fatihullah Khan Miankhel, National Democratic Movement (NDM) chief Mohsin Dawar, PPP Parliamentary Leader in KP Assembly Ahmad Kundi and MPA Sobia Khan were among those present.

The participants exchanged views on the prevailing security situation, political uncertainty and other issues, and “deliberated on a number of proposals”, the APP report said.

The leaders expressed serious concern over the rising incidents of insecurity in the province and termed the worsening situation a result of what they described as the provincial government’s failure to maintain law and order.

Speaking to the media, Kundi warned the PTI government not to “force the Centre” to impose governor’s rule and urged it to further postpone its long march currently set for Oct 4.

Kundi said that in his opinion, governor’s rule could be imposed if the federal government deemed it necessary “to save the province”.

“Fire is raging here,” he said while speaking on the province’s security situation.

“I advise the provincial government to postpone their long march due to the law and order situation, call all stakeholders and political parties to discuss peace in the province, and fight terrorism on the frontline.”

He contended that the PTI wanted to march on Islamabad and “spread chaos” even when terrorist incidents in KP were claiming people’s lives.

Afridi responds to ‘white paper’ on KP govt

In a post on X in the evening, CM Afridi asserted that the KP police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) were “extremely capable and equipped with modern weapons”.

He appeared to be specifically responding to Wali’s allegations, sharing a screenshot from the latter’s press conference earlier.

According to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, the PML-N’s KP chapter issued a white paper on the provincial government’s performance.

Pictures of the white paper’s cover shared by Wali and Bilour said the document pertained to the KP government’s “misgovernance during past one year” — since Afridi came to power.

The PML-N leaders said over Rs800bn had been given to KP for counterterrorism efforts, but the provincial government had miserably failed to equip the police with much-needed sophisticated weapons and equipment.

Giving a presentation, Wali said the KP CTD had only nine M4 rifles and 11 night vision devices for the entire province.

“Bulletproof vehicles provided by the Centre were returned with arrogance and mockery, and today the province has just 17 vehicles. In contrast, Punjab has 76, and even a low-budget province like Balochistan has 42 bulletproof vehicles.”

The PM’s coordinator said the number of police personnel martyred between January and June in 2025 rose by almost 94 per cent in the same period this year.

Similarly, injuries to police personnel rose 108pc during the period, while terrorist attacks between January and September 2026 increased by 33pc compared to the same period in 2025.

Speaking alongside him, Bilour highlighted that CM Afridi held his first meeting of the provincial apex committee in February, 112 days after taking oath.

She particularly pointed out that Afridi focused a Sept 21 media talk, held just three days after the Kohat attack, on the PTI’s long march plans and dismissed a journalist’s question on the province’s situation.

The PML-N leaders further alleged that the Afridi-led government has failed to curb the spread of drugs.

According to his post, Afridi saw a conspiracy for an attack, which he described as an attempt to prove that KP police and CTD were weak.

“Is the PML-N seeing KP as a testing ground and planning a major move?” he questioned.

He alleged that Heavy Industries Taxila, which operates under the Centre, “is deliberately slowing down the delivery of the supplies despite payment by the provincial government”.

The chief minister added that a payment had been made for weapons provided to the KP police but “other supplies are not being delivered despite the payment”.

He warned of a strong response to any attempt at an “adventure”.

‘KP’s incompetent leadership’

In Islamabad, the state minister for interior said the PTI-led KP government had not made adequate efforts to combat terrorism.

He noted that a political leadership could “provide three things in the fight against terrorism: leadership, resources and powers”.

Chaudhry contended that the provincial administration in KP — where the PTI has been in power since 2013 — “did not provide leadership to the security forces over the past 14 years”.

The interior official accused the PTI-led government of “creating space” for terrorists.

“If Pakistan is burning in the fire of terrorism, it is because of KP’s incompetent leadership,” he maintained.

Chaudhry then noted that it was the provincial government’s responsibility to allocate funds for counter-terrorism in the budget.

“[Then], why did you not provide the resources?” he asked, adding that CTD was still not functional in the entire province.

“Your forces cannot fight unarmed. You do not have bulletproof jackets, cars, training, CTD, Safe City [project], or a forensic lab,” he said, claiming that Safe City projects had been completed on the tehsil level as well in Punjab.

The state minister sought accountability from KP over the usage of even 1pc of the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, which he said amounted to Rs800bn.

Chaudhry pointed out that Afridi and his information minister did not attend the funeral prayers of the victims of the Sept 18 Kohat blast, but were rather “busy in their street movement or other matters”.

He recalled that the KP CM held a “very lengthy” press conference in Dera Ismail Khan in the wake of Saturday’s suicide blast, which claimed 12 lives.

“Why did they not condemn Afghanistan? Why do you have a soft attitude on Afghanistan? Why do you deliberately employ such ambiguity and demeanour, and do not openly condemn or name the real enemy or from where these proxies operate?” he asked.

Chaudhry reiterated his criticism of the recent KP Police Act, which has been proposed to replace a 2017 version and is aimed at curtailing the powers of the provincial inspector general (IG).

He also responded to PTI’s allegation that the party had not been included in discussions about war on terrorism, saying that the party leadership did not show up to meetings when invited.

“You come to Islamabad to demand NFC funds, but your CM does not show up for anti-terrorism meetings,” Chaudhry said.

Speaking alongside him, Tarar said PTI had not taken ownership of the fight against terrorism, again terming the party as the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) “B team”.

He alleged that PTI had facilitated terrorists in its over 12 years of governing KP and that it was not condemning them as it “suits PTI’s financial interests”.

“Sohail Afridi organised a ceremony and two Afghans did not stand up to pay respect to the national anthem. If I was there, I would have dealt with them right then and there. I would have banned them,” Tarar said.

Such an incident took place in September 2024, when PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur was serving as the chief minister.

Tarar went on to highlight that the KP government had not ensured the registration of all vehicles yet, as doing so makes the “surveillance of terrorists easier”.

He added that potential revenue generated from car registration could have been used for the benefit of the people of KP.

“You sacrificed the security of the entire province for your political gains.

“You will now have to decide if you are with Pakistan or with Afghanistan. It is as clear as that,” the information minister declared.

Reacting to the duo’s press conference, the PTI called for holding the federal and Punjab governments accountable, instead of levelling allegations against KP.

In a statement, the party maintained that the information minister should explain on what basis he was labelling the entire provincial government as facilitators of terrorists, provided that the people of KP, police, security personnel, and political workers had made the “greatest” sacrifices in the war against terrorism.

“Instead of political point-scoring, Attaullah Tarar should respect the blood of the martyrs,” it contended.

“In such circumstances, it is a national responsibility for the federal minister to cooperate with the province instead of levelling accusations.”

It urged Tarar to note the treatment facilities being provided under the PTI government’s Sehat Card programmes before lecturing the people of KP on health facilities.

“Why has it not been possible to ensure the provision of quality and timely medical facilities to the people in Punjab as well?” the PTI asked.

“Attaullah Tarar should also take a look at the state of affairs in Punjab,” it said, adding that 21pc of children aged 5 to 16 in Punjab were out of school according to a Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) report.

Moreover, the PTI claimed that the farmers in Punjab were also forced to take to the streets to resolve their issues.

Afghanistan’s ‘true face’

During his press conference, Tallal Chaudhry also highlighted the Afghan Taliban’s support for terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to TTP, that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

The state minister noted that terrorist “proxies are financed by our eastern border and their hideouts are on the western border”.

He emphasised that Islamabad had employed “every way” to convey its concerns to Kabul, including dialogue, dossiers and international forums, but to no avail.

Referring to the recent attack on a rescue vehicle carrying DI Khan blast victims, Chaudhry said that attacking rescue teams was not allowed even during war.

“This is their true face. Is this jihad? Even an enemy with some rules does not carry out such attacks.”

He said such terrorist activities were carried out in exchange for receiving funds in dollars, which were proportional to the number of casualties.

The interior official asserted that Pakistan had the “best systems” for investigating the identity of a suspected terrorist.

“Very few countries have enough data that in less than a minute, any heinous crime or terrorist incident-related information can be accessed in Nadra and other databases […] we instantly find out whether they are Pakistanis [or not].”

He then recalled that when authorities did not find any details in the database for a recent incident, they used open-source intelligence and geolocated a terrorist’s picture to Kabul’s Pashtunistan Square.

September witnessed another bout of conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the former saying it struck terrorist sites in the border region in response to a recent spate of terrorist attacks.

Pakistan conducted “aerial and drone strikes” in another 10 locations across Afghanistan in retaliation for drones launched from across the border that were shot down in KP.

The Foreign Office (FO) has said a demarche was also delivered to the Afghan side on Saturday on account of the Sept 23 airspace violation by drones.

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