Defence minister blames PTI for K-P security crisis

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday accused the PTI)of pursuing negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying the party's policy had contributed to the security crisis in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In a detailed statement on X, Asif said the issue between the presidency and the K-P government was "not politics but terrorism", while questioning the provincial government's handling of police capacity, counterterrorism infrastructure and security funds. He said the PTI had exercised political control or influence in K-P for around 13 years and criticised its leadership for advocating negotiations with the TTP. "Imran Khan has always had a soft corner for TTP, and the party's thinking has been more aligned with the idea of negotiations with terrorists rather than the state's policy of eliminating terrorism," Asif said. He claimed that after becoming prime minister, Imran had said he knew how to end terrorism in K-P and called for talks with terrorists. Asif also criticised the role of former ISI chief General Faiz Hameed, alleging that he had been used to advance the talks agenda. The defence minister blamed the PTI founder for using the state apparatus to pursue talks with the TTP and its allies. "The full price of this policy has been paid by K-P and Pakistan, yet even today, the same party is talking about negotiations and engagement with TTP and Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA)." He reiterated the military's stated policy towards terrorism, saying, "terrorists will be eliminated." K-P security crisis Asif said official K-P data showed that the province had witnessed around 6,200 terrorism incidents and 1,200 deaths over the past two years, including 37 suicide attacks allegedly carried out by Afghan nationals. "Just this year, 14 suicide attacks have already occurred, the majority by Afghan nationals," he added. He questioned the deployment and capacity of the provincial police, saying the K-P police force had around 125,000 personnel, of whom about 13,000 were deployed on VIP security duties. He said around 17,000 posts remained vacant despite the province's frontline role in counterterrorism. Asif also criticised the functioning of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the merged districts, claiming that it had only 17 bulletproof vehicles and around 3,300 personnel, most of whom were contract employees. "Only 25 are permanent, while the rest are contract employees," the defence minister said. He also questioned PTI leaders' engagement with the security situation, asking whether they had personally visited military checkpoints, met families of soldiers martyred in the fight against terrorism, reviewed the functioning of courts and police stations in the merged districts or regularly attended apex committee meetings on security. Federal funds Addressing PTI claims that K-P had been denied adequate financial resources by the federal government, Asif said the province had received around Rs8.5 trillion in federal assistance between July 2010 and 2025. "There is no shortage of funds, but corruption and weak governance diminish their impact," the minister said. According to figures cited by Asif, the amount included Rs5.867 trillion transferred under the Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award between 2010 and 2025. He said Rs705 billion had been provided under the 1% share of the divisible pool allocated for the war against terrorism. For the merged districts, Rs704 billion had been disbursed since 2019, he added. K-P government rejects criticism Provincial Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam rejected the impression that the K-P government was neglecting security or failing to allocate adequate resources to the police and other institutions. "The current government of K-P has been allocating resources on a priority basis to police, law and order, judiciary, and temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) since February 2024," he stated in a post shared by the K-P government on X.