Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has strongly criticised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government over its handling of terrorism, accusing the provincial leadership of failing to protect citizens and properly support the police.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad alongside Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, Tarar claimed that KP’s leadership had failed to take effective action against militant groups despite a worsening security situation in the province.
He alleged that the PTI leadership in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had adopted a soft approach towards the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), going as far as describing the party’s provincial leadership as the militant group’s “B-team”. He also alleged that PTI had been involved in financially supporting terrorists. These were allegations made by the minister during the press conference.
Tarar questioned why, according to him, terrorist groups had targeted leaders and workers of parties including the ANP, PML-N and JUI-F, while PTI had largely escaped such attacks.
He also raised concerns over the large number of non-custom-paid vehicles operating in KP, claiming that some such vehicles had been used in terrorist attacks. He accused the provincial government of failing to bring these vehicles into the legal and registration system.
The minister said the federal Interior Ministry had offered modern vehicles to the KP Police, but claimed the provincial government declined the offer. He accused the KP leadership of leaving police personnel vulnerable while spending government resources on political protests.
Tarar also questioned how funds received by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the NFC Award for counter-terrorism and law and order had been spent. He has made similar public claims in recent days, arguing that provincial resources should be directed towards security and public welfare rather than political protests.
Tarar further criticised KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, saying the provincial leadership was more focused on political campaigning and securing the release of imprisoned PTI founder Imran Khan than on tackling terrorism.
He said the federal government remained committed to eliminating terrorism and called on the KP government to prioritise policing, counter-terrorism and public security.
DI Khan blast perpetrator belong to Afgahnistan
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that women and children were also killed in the terrorist attack on a check post near a peace festival in Dera Ismail Khan.
He said the identities of the terrorists involved in the attack could not be found through NADRA or other official databases.
He said terrorist groups often release pictures and videos of their members after attacks. He said a photograph of one of the terrorists involved in the D.I. Khan incident was immediately entered into the system, but no identification record was found.
He added that open-source information indicated that the terrorist was a resident of Kabul, Afghanistan.
According to Talal Chaudhry, terrorists often operate under fake names, making their identification more difficult.
The Minister of State for Interior further said that militant proxies are sponsored from across the eastern border and that this was not the first such incident. He claimed that over the past two-and-a-half to three years, most terrorist groups involved in attacks had come from Afghanistan.
During the press conference, Talal Chaudhry also presented photographs of the terrorists and other available details to the media.
