Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said that if the federal government wanted to eradicate terrorism, “they would have sat with us and formed a policy”.
Federal authorities have criticised the PTI-led KP government for failing to ensure security in the province, with KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi saying that the party was in disarray and unable to achieve any of its policy goals.
In a speech at Peshawar University’s convocation ceremony, the CM said that the people of KP had warned the Centre about the resurgence of terrorism in the province, but were brushed off as propaganda.
“We would issue warnings that they (terrorists) were in the mountains and they were coming, that they had reached our markets and homes,” CM Afridi said. “We were told that we are spreading propaganda.”
He highlighted that if there was going to be a military operation, then the people of KP needed to be taken into confidence and made part of the policy process.
“There needs to be a policy shift, but not behind closed doors,” he explained. “It [policy] needs to be formed after consulting KP’s government, people and stakeholders.“
“A clear policy formed in this manner will play a role in lasting and enduring peace; a decision made behind closed doors will leave our people suffering, as they have for the past 17 years.”
The CM noted that the KP government and the Centre had “different intentions”, adding, “If they wanted to eradicate terrorism, then they would have sat with us and formed a policy.
“We came out of our homes, so they committed that they would give Rs400,000 to people whose homes have been lost to terrorism,” he said. “Imagine hearing that after sacrificing so much. They still have not received that money.”
Highlighting the impact of military operations, CM Afridi noted that families would lose breadwinners in collateral damage or terrorist attacks, causing them to suffer economically.
