Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Atta Tarar responded to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Salman Akram Raja in a post on X. He criticised PTI’s position on talks with the federal government and its approach towards terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Tarar said it was important to look at the issue in the right context. He said PTI had been using the argument that all political parties should be consulted for the past three years.
According to him, the federal government had already tried to do this. However, he claimed that PTI did not respond to the proposals.
He said PTI’s KPK government had only started responding to calls from the federal government for a joint mechanism to fight terrorism after becoming politically weak. He claimed this was being done to protect PTI’s political position in KPK.
Tarar also pointed out that PTI’s own spokesperson was denying the talks. He further alleged that the spokesperson was giving arguments that supported terrorists.
Questions raised over KPK’s policy
Tarar questioned what he described as double standards over PTI’s position on terrorism. He said that PTI claimed that the KPK government was taking steps against terrorism and was serious about the issue.
However, he said the party’s narrative on terrorism was in favour of terrorists. He also claimed that the KPK government’s policy was encouraging the spread of terrorism in the province.
Tarar raised several questions about the KPK government’s actions.
He asked why the KPK government did not attend federal Apex Committee meetings. He also questioned why the provincial government did not hold its own Apex Committee meetings to review the situation of terrorism as other provinces do.
He asked why the KPK chief minister and his cabinet did not condemn the Afghan Taliban regime for allegedly supporting terrorism in Pakistan. He also questioned their response to cross-border attacks and drone attacks on Pakistani posts.
Tarar further asked whether the KPK government had openly supported the armed forces and police personnel who had lost their lives while fighting terrorism in the province.
He also questioned why the KPK government had not fully implemented the National Action Plan (NAP).
He said the plan required action against illegal spectrum and illegal Afghan immigrants. It also called for better capacity and stronger police and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).
Tarar asks about support for security forces
Tarar also questioned PTI leaders’ presence at the funerals of security personnel who died in the fight against terrorism.
He asked why they did not attend the funerals of the martyrs. He also asked why they did not visit security forces and police posts to show their support.
He questioned how many times PTI leaders had visited the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and taken an interest in their governance and development issues.
Tarar also asked why PTI leaders remained silent when the Afghan Taliban regime allegedly sent drones and tashkeels in support of terrorism in KPK.
He asked how many times PTI leaders had stood with Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers guarding the Pakistan-Afghanistan border against terrorists.
He said PTI should answer these questions instead of creating what he described as confusion and using what he called useless rhetoric.
Tarar rejects PTI’s call for consultations
Tarar said calling for consultations and joint action was an old strategy of PTI. He claimed that the party raised these demands whenever it came under pressure.
According to him, PTI talked about consultations and joint action but acted differently on the ground.
He also blamed the KPK government for not implementing the National Action Plan. He claimed that this had allowed terrorism to grow in the province.
Tarar further alleged that the situation had badly affected the KPK economy. He said PTI was responsible for this situation.
He asked PTI to stop presenting collective consultations, jirgas and other methods as solutions. He described these calls as delaying tactics that had no real effect on the ground.
Tarar said the state would not allow PTI to confuse people through what he called its old rhetoric and lengthy statements.
He ended his tweet by saying that this approach had already brought KPK close to collapse and added, “No More!!!”
