LAKKI MARWAT/ ISLAM­ABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has announced that no military operation will be allowed in any part of the province, though he asked police to go after armed groups across the province.

However, the PML-N-led federal government slammed the KP chief minister for what it called “misguiding” the people on the issue of Azm-i-Istehkam campaign against terrorism.

While addressing a public rally in Bannu on Friday, CM Gandapur said: “From past experiences we have learnt that the operations were of no benefit and added to the sufferings of people by vacating their homes.”

He said the KP residents offered sacrifices in the war on terror, faced displacements from their native areas, adding that people had reservations over the treatment meted out to them.

Centre slams CM for ‘misguiding’ people over Azm-i-Istehkam

The chief minister thanked the Bannu people, especially the elders, who held successful talks with the local administration after the recent violence. After successful negotiations with the administration, a committee comprising elders formulated a charter of demands and forwarded it to the provincial government, he said.

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The apex committee in its meeting held on Thursday thoroughly discussed each point presented by the peace committee and accepted all the demands, Mr Gandapur said, vowing that any other demand, if left, would also be entertained.

But he denied reports about any action against religious seminaries and said students were close to his heart. He said his government would provide solar energy to all mosques located in the seminaries as well as education and employment to the students.

However, he directed law enforcement agencies to launch action against armed groups across the province. “I salute to the police and direct them to launch action against armed groups in the entire province,” he said. He asked people to identify malpractices and drugs so that the menaces could be eliminated completely.

He pointed out that the “derogatory remarks” against the martyrs of police and armed forces of Pakistan pained him as well as the families of the martyrs.

Bannu Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Nasir Bangash thanked the chief minister for visiting the district and announced to end the week-long protest sit-in staged against operation Azm-i-Istehkam and for establishing peace in the region.

KP minister Malik Pakht­oonyar, MNAs Maulana Syed Naseem Ali Shah and Sher Afzal Marwat, MPA Malik Adnan Khan Wazir, former senators Baz Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Maulana Abdul Ghaffar Quraishi, Dr Abdul Rauf Quraishi, Taimur Baz Khan and Ghulam Qeebaz spoke on the occasion. MNA Dawar Kundi and MPA Usman Bitanni were also present.

The district administration and police had adopted strict security arrangements with the deployment of more than 2,400 policemen to control law and order and avert any untoward incident.

Centre slams Gandapur

In response to the CM’s address at the Bannu gathering, the federal government criticised the CM for misguiding the people of KP by making the issue controversial.

Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Safron Amir Muqam, flanked by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, told a press conference that the CM was misguiding people. “Gandapur was saying the same what the military and civil leadership had already clarified about the Azm-i-Istehkam. Why he is making the campaign controversial and misguiding the people,” Minister Muqam said.

It had already been explained in the apex committee and by the DG ISPR, the federal minister said, yet the CM attempted to turn the peace jirga into a political gathering in which slogans in favour of PTI founder Imran Khan were raised.

“We also agreed that first the operation and action should be taken by the police. If possible, we should not requisition the army to take action as maintaining law and order is the responsibility of police and civil security forces,” Mr Muqam explained.

Mr Tarar said the CM in his address to the public meeting made “false claims”, just to make the incarcerated PTI founder “happy”.

He questioned what plan CM Gandapur had to eradicate terrorism, which resurfaced during his tenure.

“Come up with a plan, if you have to root out terrorism,” Mr Tarar asserted. Besides, Mr Tarar also criticised the KP CM over deforestation in Batagram and inking a deal with a fake and bogus institution for imparting AI training to the youth of KP.

He demanded an investigation on the basis of which the contract was awarded.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2024