- KP Chief Minister announces that Rs 1 billion will be released to CTD.
- He says KP’s prosecution performance also improved during his tenure.
- The Center has been criticized for not releasing recovery funds for the merged districts.
After the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government was accused of misplacing law and order priorities, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur strongly rejected the Centre’s claims that his administration was unable to deal with the security challenges and to give more power to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). province.
“The law and order situation has improved in our government,” Gandapur said at a press conference in Peshawar on Sunday during which he responded to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement highlighting the ineffectiveness of the CTD in eradicating terrorism in the province.
He added that the anti-terrorism department was fully functional and had carried out “thousands of successful operations” against terrorists.
He further clarified that the provincial government would contribute an additional Rs 1 billion to the CTD. Special cells have been prepared by the department to keep the arrested suspects, he added.
The KP CM added that his administration was also purchasing 20 bulletproof vehicles and announced release of funds to CTD staff for 300 kits and drones.
He added that the quota of martyred officials was increased from 5% to 12%, as well as the allocation of plots to the heirs of martyrs.
Gandapur also pointed out that the performance of the provincial prosecution has also improved during his tenure and more people would be inducted into the prosecution team next week.
The federal government was creating “confusion” among the people of KP, the chief minister said, adding that the Center had not disbursed a single penny to the province for combating terrorism.
The provincial government is also yet to receive Rs 40 million in terms of additional funds for the merged tribal districts, he added.
Kurram tribal issue ‘confusing’
Commenting on the deadly clashes between rival tribes in Kurram, Gandapur said the issue was still “confusing”.
Deadly tribal clashes continued in KP’s Kurram district for the 11th consecutive day, leaving six more dead and eight injured, despite a ten-day truce brokered last week, but intermittent violence made it ineffective.
Earlier in the day, police said the death toll in recent incidents of violence had risen to 130 and the number of people injured had reached 186.
Continuing violence in the tribal town forced the closure of the main Peshawar-Parachinar road. While travel across the Pak-Afghan Kharlachi border has also been suspended.
The inflammatory chief minister slammed KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi for convening an All Party Conference (APC) to discuss the law and order situation in KP.
“It is not the governor’s job to convene an APC…I will convene an all-party conference,” Gandapur said, stressing that he was the competent public office holder to discuss all issues. issues related to the province.
“The governor should speak within his (constitutional) capacity until his party (Pakistan People’s Party) gets the mandate.”
Last month, Governor Kundi announced the holding of an APC in the first week of December to discuss the security situation in the province following an increase in attacks on police, security forces and civilians.
Expressing deep concern over the uneasy peace situation in KP, the governor said he would meet political leaders in the province to “obtain their suggestions on how to address the law and order situation in KP as well as other problems facing the province. “, News reported.
He said the provincial government had not taken any solid steps to improve law and order, but instead remained busy protesting and attacking Islamabad for the release of its party leader.
When asked whether CM Gandapur would be invited to the APC or not, the governor said that all central and provincial leaders of political parties would be invited and he was the provincial chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ( PTI).