KP ministers blame ‘regime change’ for security issue

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday blamed the security issue in the province on the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government in April this year.

It also flayed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration on the criticism of the province’s police and counter-terrorism department over the seizure of the CTD centre in Bannu.

Accompanied by adviser to the chief minister on home Babar Salim Swati and higher education minister Kamran Bangash, finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told reporters here that security challenges surfaced in the province after the removal of Prime Minister Imran Khan from power and that the “regime change” was responsible for the current law and order situation in the province.

He said a comparison of the security situation before and after the Shehbaz-government in the centre was enough to confirm his assertion.

The minister said terrorist activities on the country’s western borders began in 2001.

He said the post-2001 deaths in the province’s tribal districts (erstwhile Fata) outnumbered those reported nationwide during the period showing how ‘ignorant’ interior minister Rana Sanaullah and defence minister Khwaja Asif were about such casualties.

“It’s very sad to hear [remarks of members of the federal cabinet],” he said.

Mr Jhagra said the security situation had improved after the fencing of western borders and that was maintained by the centre and not KP.

He blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration for the province’s financial challenges.

The minister said in the third letter to former adviser to PM Shehbaz Sharif on finance Miftah Ismail, he had warned that the continued denial of funds by the centre to the province could lead to security challenges in the province.

He said his government had to make “compromises on different things” due to those funding denial.

Aide to the chief minister Babar Saleem Swati said the “regime change” had led to “security pressure”, so he wondered why the state institutions continued to support Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration.

“What is happening right now [in the province] is just because of the regime change in the country,” he insisted.

He said KP acted as a buffer zone on the Western border.

Mr Swati said the sacrifices rendered by the province showed that its forces and residents continued to stand firm against militancy.

He said the provincial government had established CTD regional offices and would set up a few more soon.

Minister Kamran Bangash said there was a huge difference between the law and order situation in the province before and after 2013.

He said the federation should behave like a federation.

Mr Bangash said the provincial government, police and CTD were vigilant and were taking all necessary steps to maintain the law and order situation in the province.

‘We will fight militancy together,” he said.