PESHAWAR
\nKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Science and Information Technology Shafi Jan on Monday accused federal ministers of linking terrorism with the provincial government for political point-scoring and said they should answer for their own policies and performance.
\nAddressing a joint press conference along with Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Home and Tribal Affairs Tariq Saeed Marwat at the Directorate General Information and Public Relations, the minister said terrorism was a national issue and required a serious and joint strategy.
\nHe said federal ministers had presented incorrect figures about the provincial police at a recent press conference and alleged that PML-N leader Ikhtiar Wali had tried to distort facts.
\n\u201cStatements by federal ministers are creating an impression that the KP government is not taking measures against terrorism. Such statements undermine the sacrifices of our police,\u201d he said.
\nHe said if law and order was being cited as a justification for imposing Governor\u2019s Rule, then the situation in Balochistan should also be examined, adding that any such move in KP would trigger a public backlash.
\nMr Jan said militancy had emerged as a major challenge in KP after 9\/11 and recalled that PTI founder Imran Khan had opposed drone strikes in the tribal districts. He said the PTI government had worked for peace and development after coming to power in the province in 2013, and that the security situation had improved during Mr Khan\u2019s tenure as prime minister but deteriorated after the removal of his government.
\nHe criticised Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar for his statements on KP and said if he was visiting the province to assess the situation, he should also visit Balochistan.
\nHe said the KP government was ready to sit with all stakeholders to formulate a comprehensive strategy against terrorism. On the long march, he said the change in the Sept 27 date was part of the party\u2019s political strategy. He alleged the federal government was attempting to create confrontation between the people and state institutions.
\n\u201cWe stand with Pakistan. Pakistan is part of our faith,\u201d he said.
\nRegarding procurement of modern equipment for police, Mr Jan said Rs7.4 billion had been paid to Heavy Industries Taxila and other relevant federal institutions for 57 items, but only 13 had so far been supplied to KP police, alleging unnecessary delay in the supply of the remaining equipment.
\nHe said the provincial government had placed police and law and order among its top priorities. The police budget had been increased to Rs191 billion, while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had allocated a special package of Rs35 billion for police and the Counter Terrorism Department.
\n\u201cAfter health and education, police have received the largest budgetary allocation,\u201d he said.
\nThe minister said KP had borne a heavy human and financial cost in the war against terrorism, claiming around 80,000 people had lost their lives over the years.
\n\u201cDespite these sacrifices, KP is still being subjected to criticism and taunts instead of being given its due share in the fight against terrorism,\u201d he said, adding that the federal government\u2019s current policies had contributed to an increase in terrorist incidents.
\nHe said Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had written several letters seeking a meeting of the Apex Committee but had yet to receive a response.
\nHe said the provincial government did not seek confrontation with state institutions and remained committed to peace, protection of citizens and elimination of terrorism.
\nPESHAWAR Minister for Information Shafi Jan and CM aide on Interior Tariq Saeed Marwat addressing a joint press conference-DLP Photo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Science and Information Technology Shafi Jan on Monday accused federal ministers of linking terrorism with the provincial government for political point-scoring and said they should answer for their own policies and performance. Addressing a joint press conference along with Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Home and Tribal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103633,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103606\/revisions\/103633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}