Awami National Party (ANP) President Aimal Wali Khan said on Saturday that the PTI did not attend the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) meeting as “they are Taliban sympathisers”.

Last week, the country’s top civilian and military leaders assembled at the Parliament House to discuss measures to curb terrorism. The meeting was skipped by the PTI after its requested meeting with jailed party founder Imran Khan failed to materialise.

A statement issued after the meeting said the committee members condemned the recent terrorist acts in the strongest terms, expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and reiterated the country’s unwavering resolve to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

They also lauded the valour and professionalism of security forces and law enforcement agencies in conducting their counter-terrorism operations.

While speaking on DawnNews TV programme ‘Doosra Rukh’ on Saturday, Aimal said, “This is the third time that Taliban sympathisers [PTI] are in government [in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] and what do you expect from them?

“That they will attend the meeting where there will be a discussion and decisions taken against ‘their’ terrorists? They would never attend [such a meeting].

“I have said on the record that we gave the moniker ‘Taliban Khan’ to Imran Khan, every Pakhtun knows that he has remained an advocate for the Taliban,” he continued.

He added in a veiled reference to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, “On the other side there are those who we saw giving a statement when they were chief minister that ‘do whatever terrorism you want to do in KP but don’t come to Punjab’.”

He continued that he expected both the KP government and the Centre to tackle the issue of terrorism seriously and provide security.

He was responding to a question regarding PTI initially agreeing and then deciding to skip the moot, as well as the absence of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif.

He continued that there was no talk about conducting an operation during the PCNS meeting but there was a plan to tackle terrorism.

“The way they [army] cleared the [Jaffer Express] train without any collateral damage, we want them to clear the rest of the country as well in a similar manner,” Aimal added.

When asked about Army Chief Gen Asim Munir’s remarks that governance failures were hampering Pakis­tan’s ability to effectively counter militancy, the ANP leader said, “I saw this in a positive light when the army chief told the prime minister that you should let us go to the borders [and do our work] and not embroil us in other affairs by fulfilling your responsibilities.”

The PCNS said in a communique issued after the meeting last week that the “committee had emphasised the immediate implementation of the National Action Plan and the ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ strategy to dismantle terrorist networks, disrupt logistical support, and eliminate the nexus between terrorism and crime”.

The communique also highlighted the need for unity and political resolve to face the threat of terrorism with the full strength of the state, calling for a national consensus in the fight against terrorism.

Expressing concern over the increasing misuse of social media platforms by terrorist groups, the committee also called for a framework to target the digital networks of militant organisations.