Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Monday accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of not cooperating with the Centre in the ongoing war against terrorism. Speaking to media, he said the provincial government was also not standing with state institutions, while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was not cooperating in efforts to prevent terrorism. Chaudhry said three provinces were following Pakistan's policy on Afghanistan, but not KP.
His remarks came days after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to clarify whether it stands with Pakistan or Afghanistan amid deadly terror attacks across the province. Addressing a press conference last week, Tarar said that the PTI-led KP government refuses to take ownership of counterterrorism operations or take effective steps against terrorism. "I have been saying for years that they are a B-team of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). I am justified in saying that because they facilitated the terrorists in the last 12 years," he had added.
The parliamentary affairs minister said today that the federal government was considering imposing an emergency in KP amid the prevailing situation in the province. It is pertinent to mention here that the government-opposition fresh talks aimed at averting the PTI's planned October 4 long march towards Islamabad ended in deadlock on the night between Saturday and Sunday, with the two sides failing to reach consensus on key issues. Both sides accused each other of sabotaging the dialogues.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday had accused the KP CM of attempting to sabotage negotiations between the PTI and the federal government. PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had claimed that the primary reason for the failure of the talks was the federal government's insistence that all anti-terrorism actions it unilaterally initiated in KP must be owned by the provincial government. Meanwhile, the PTI embarked on its October 4 long march towards Islamabad.