PM Shehbaz chairs Apex Committee meeting in Peshawar, vows not to rest until the last terrorist is eliminated
PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the Apex Committee Peshawar meeting at Governor House on Thursday and declared that the government would not rest until the last terrorist in the country is eliminated. It was his first visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since emergency and governor’s rule were imposed in the province on October 11, and the meeting, which lasted around three hours, reviewed the security situation and the counterterrorism campaign across the province.
Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi attended, alongside federal ministers, the provincial chief secretary and the inspector general of police. Naqvi briefed the forum on the security situation and the facilities the federation has provided to the province. The meeting agreed on the complete elimination of terrorism and paid tribute to the martyrs of the armed forces, the police and the public.
“The federation will provide whatever the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, Safe Cities and the CTD need”
The prime minister said the federation would meet every requirement of the provincial police, the Safe City project and the Counter Terrorism Department, and the forum agreed to strengthen both forces with additional equipment, vehicles, weapons and manpower. The political and military leadership would together bring back an era of peace, progress and prosperity to the province, he said, adding that the sacrifices of soldiers and officers would not go in vain.
Defending governor’s rule, PM says he consulted Zardari twice
Shehbaz defended the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule, saying the deteriorating security situation had compelled the government to take difficult decisions. A political committee had worked for 48 hours to find a negotiated solution and he had himself consulted President Asif Ali Zardari twice, he told the meeting, but with talks failing there was no option left except the constitutional route. He thanked the coalition partners, particularly President Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, for their support, and said an advisory council of competent and honest people from different professions had been established to assist the governor.
Peace had been fully restored in the province by 2018, the prime minister recalled, but the past six years had undone that hard work. Around 80,000 people had lost their lives in the fight against terrorism and the country had suffered losses worth billions of dollars. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had received Rs800 billion under the NFC Award for counterterrorism since 2010, yet under the previous provincial government 5,000 police posts had stayed vacant, the Safe City project remained incomplete, and the police and CTD were given neither training nor modern weapons, he said. He also repeated allegations of corruption worth Rs100 billion in a clean drinking water project and Rs37 billion in the Kohistan scandal.
Governor Kundi said peace in the province and the protection of its people were a shared priority, and that success should be measured by public confidence, stronger professional capability in the police and CTD, and the dismantling of the whole militant network, including its facilitators and financing. The people of the merged districts, who had paid a heavy price over years of conflict, should now receive better education, healthcare and employment, he added.
Grief over school roof collapse, governor told to visit the site at once
The prime minister expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of a teacher and children in the collapse of a school roof in Peshawar, and directed Governor Kundi to visit the site immediately and ensure a comprehensive investigation into the tragedy.
