Khawaja Asif says KP's crisis is 'not politics but terrorism'

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday said the dispute between the state and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was “not politics but terrorism”, blaming the PTI’s past push for talks with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the province’s security crisis.

In a detailed statement on X, Asif questioned the provincial government’s handling of police capacity, counterterrorism infrastructure and security funds, The Express Tribune reported. His remarks came as Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s PTI march headed for Peshawar.

The numbers he cited

Asif said official KP data showed that over the past two years the province had seen:

• About 6,200 terrorism incidents
• 1,200 deaths
• 37 suicide attacks, which he said were carried out by Afghan nationals; 14 this year alone, mostly by Afghans

“The state’s policy is to eliminate terrorists”

Asif said the PTI had controlled or influenced KP for about 13 years and accused its founder of having “a soft corner for TTP”. He said the full price of the talks policy had been paid by KP and Pakistan, “yet even today, the same party is talking about negotiations”.

He repeated the military’s position: “Terrorists will be eliminated.” He asked who, if not the army, was fighting terrorism, and why the military should not use drones when militants were using them. “You say this is a war for dollars. Tell us, how many billions of dollars has America provided to Pakistan in the past few years?” he said.

Questions over police and funds

Asif raised several concerns about the province’s own security set-up:

• Police: of about 125,000 personnel, around 13,000 are on VIP duty, while about 17,000 posts are vacant
• Counter-Terrorism Department: in the merged districts it has only 17 bulletproof vehicles and about 3,300 staff, of whom he said only 25 are permanent
• Checkposts: police sought Rs42 billion to rebuild and fortify checkposts but received only Rs1.2 billion, he said, alleging the rest was “embezzled”
• Courts: more than 3,000 prosecution cases are pending, and no terrorist has been punished in the province, he said

He said KP had received about Rs8.5 trillion in federal money between 2010 and 2025, including Rs705 billion from the 1 percent share of the divisible pool for the war on terror. “There is no shortage of funds, but corruption and weak governance diminish their impact,” he said.

KP’s reply

KP Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam rejected the claims, saying the provincial government had prioritised spending on police, law and order, the judiciary and displaced people since February 2024. He said the police budget had risen 43.6 percent, from Rs121 billion in 2024-25 to Rs173.8 billion in 2026-27, and spending on police weapons from Rs3.3 billion to Rs14.5 billion.

Aslam said KP was still waiting for a fair share for the merged districts under the National Finance Commission, and that the Centre owed it Rs54 billion for displaced persons.

Why it matters

The exchange shows how far apart the federal and KP governments are on the fight against terrorism, at a time when the province faces near-daily attacks. Asif’s message is that the state’s line of eliminating militants, not negotiating with them, is final. Read our reports on the PTI march to Kohat and on Pakistan’s statement at the Moscow talks.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune.