PM Shehbaz vows to restore KP's progress on first visit since governor's rule

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed that the federal government, which now runs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under governor’s rule, would do everything possible to “bring back” progress to the province, Dawn reported.

He spoke while chairing a meeting of the provincial apex committee in Peshawar, on his first visit to KP since governor’s rule and an emergency were declared on October 11. The meeting reviewed the province’s security situation and was attended by Chief of Defence Forces and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, federal ministers and newly appointed provincial advisers.

“Under extreme compulsion”

The prime minister repeated that the emergency and governor’s rule had to be imposed “under extreme compulsion”.

“I promise that we will leave no stone unturned in bringing back the happiness and era of progress to this province, and in the practical realisation of the wishes, aspirations, and dreams of this province’s people that have been shattered due to the worst actions of recent years,” he said.

He said the Centre “will place all possible resources at your feet”, and that the Advisory Council led by the governor, together with himself, the president and the army chief, would make sure KP not only catches up with the other provinces “but I would be extremely happy if it moves even further ahead”.

Attack on PTI

The prime minister directed sharp criticism at the PTI, which governed the province until October 11:

• He regretted that “terrorists were summoned back here” after peace had been established, “washing down all sacrifices down the drain”.
• He called for “an all-encompassing analysis as to why this happened”, saying there was “no worse callousness, criminal negligence, and hostility towards the national interest than this”.
• He said people’s issues, including education, health and the protection of lives and property, “were pushed aside” in favour of “matters with terrorists”.

He recalled that “80,000 people were martyred” and the economy lost several hundred billion dollars before peace was fully restored in 2018. “There can be no greater enmity with the country than not honouring and respecting such sacrifices,” he said, describing KP as “the first extremely strong wall of the homeland”.

He also said 5,000 police posts had remained vacant under the previous provincial government, the Safe City project was still incomplete, and more than Rs800 billion had been provided to KP for counterterrorism under the National Finance Commission award, Geo News reported. He regretted that militancy had returned despite that funding.

The PTI has rejected the federal government’s justification for the emergency and has challenged it in court.

How KP got here

The federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule citing the PTI-led provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism. Parliament endorsed the decisions last week amid opposition protests. The move followed a PTI protest march to demand the release of jailed founder Imran Khan.

After governor’s rule began, Kundi said counterterrorism policy would “come from Islamabad, not Kabul”. The governor has since halted the supply of flood-damaged wheat to flour mills, while JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman has called the emergency a grab for KP’s minerals.