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With the rise in incidents of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday slammed the KP government for equipping police and civil armed forces to counter terrorism in the region despite providing the funds to the tune of Pkr 417 Billion since 2010.
He questioned how the KP government had spent funds worth Pkr 417 billion that it has received from the Centre since 2010, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported. The premier asked the KP government where did these funds go even though the National Counter-Terrorism Authority and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had been established. Sharif made his observations during a weekly meeting of the federal cabinet held to discuss the resurgence of terrorism. According to Dawn newspaper, the PM shifted the blame instead of coming up with a strategy to tackle militancy in light of an increase in terrorism incidents. Sharif said that the nation wants the KP government to be held accountable for the rise of terrorism in the province and the money could have been used to enhance terror-combatting abilities. "Who had said these jihadis (fighters) were friends of Pakistan? Who had said that they have surrendered [weapons] and will enter the mainstream? It's a point of concern," the prime minister said in a thinly-veiled allusion to Imran Khan's plan to resettle these militants in tribal districts. "Terrorism is rearing its head again. The question is who brought them back," Sharif said as quoted by Dawn newspaper. "Everyone is asking who brought them back. What happened? [...] How can peace be destroyed? How can Khyber Pakhtunkhwa go back into the hands of terrorists," Shehbaz wondered, according to Dawn. Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police on Wednesday staged a protest against the rising terrorism in the province. The police force protested in front of the Peshawar Press Club. This is the first time in history that the province's police has protested against terrorism. Videos shared on social media show groups of police officers raising slogans against rising terrorism. On January 30, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Peshawar's Police Lines mosque, a heavily guarded facility at about 1 pm during Zohr prayers, forcing the roof to collapse on those praying at the time. The death toll in the blast has risen to 100 as the rescue operation to retrieve bodies from the debris of the mosque concluded on Tuesday, Geo News reported. The toll of injured has reached at least 221. According to Mohammad Asim, the spokesperson for the primary medical facility, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, approximately 100 bodies have been taken into the facility and 53 patients are being treated, as per Geo News. The KP caretaker CM revealed that an inquiry committee had been constituted to identify those responsible for this act. (ANI)
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