Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday criticised PTI’s 13 year record in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and told PML N lawmakers to deliver relief within six months to a year.
He was addressing the PML N parliamentary party from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Islamabad. The federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in KP on 11 October, citing the provincial government’s disengagement from the fight against terrorism.
The prime minister said KP had received hundreds of billions of rupees under a special National Finance Commission (NFC) arrangement to combat terrorism. He questioned how those resources had been used.
He asked how many Safe City projects had been started in the province, and how much had been spent on strengthening the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). He also asked why around 5,000 police posts remained vacant.
Shehbaz said even Rs 80 billion spent on the police and other law enforcement agencies would have left them far better equipped to deal with security threats.
He also questioned PTI’s record on development, citing its promises of dams, solar power, hospitals, universities and schools. He said a majority of people across Peshawar, Kohistan, Hazara and southern KP would say their basic needs had gone largely unaddressed.
The prime minister said terrorism in KP had been brought largely under control by 2018. He said the province’s people, police and security forces had made some of the greatest sacrifices in the fight against it.
He put Pakistan’s death toll from terrorism at around 80,000 and its economic losses at about Rs 15,000 billion.
He accused the PTI government of allowing terrorists from Afghanistan to settle in Swat, saying this helped terrorism regain momentum.
He said committees of the PPP and PML N had held 48 hours of talks with PTI, and a draft agreement was ready. He said approval from Sohail Afridi, whom he described as the then chief minister, never came.
The prime minister said the federal government had been left with no option but to impose the emergency and governor’s rule. He said the decision was taken in time, and that any delay would have caused further damage.
He told PML N lawmakers from KP to set long term projects aside for now and concentrate on short term welfare work. He gave examples such as improving law and order, building a school and making sure hospitals have medicines. That kind of work, he said, could change people’s lives within six months to a year.
