Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on Monday slammed the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for inadequate efforts to combat terrorism, particularly highlighting flaws in its leadership, resources and use of authority.
Addressing media in Islamabad, Chaudhry noted that a political leadership could “provide three things in the fight against terrorism: leadership, resources and powers”.
He 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.
Chaudhry then noted that it was the provincial government’s responsibility to allocate funds for counterterrorism in the budget.
“[Then], why did you not provide the resources?” he asked, adding that the Counter-Terrorism Department (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.
Chaudhry pointed out that KP Chief Minister Sohail 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 deadly suicide blast.
“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.
At the outset of his press conference, Chaudhry noted that terrorist “proxies are financed by our eastern border and their hideouts are on the western border”.
He emphasised that Pakistan had employed “every way” to convey its concerns to Kabul, including dialogue, dossiers and international forums, but to no avail.
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