The press conference by government ministers — Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry — came shortly after the Centre imposed emergency in KP, citing the provincial government’s lack of efforts to combat terrorism

DNA

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday alleged that the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a “nexus” with terrorist groups, as the Centre explained that the province’s security situation necessitated the imposition of emergency there.

The press conference by government ministers — Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry — came shortly after the Centre imposed emergency in KP, citing the provincial government’s lack of efforts to combat terrorism.

The Centre and the PTI — which was in power in KP — have been at odds over various issues, particularly on the counterterrorism policy, which was one of the main reasons behind the breakdown of their Oct 3 talks.

Addressing the media in Islamabad, the information minister said all cabinet members who attended Sunday’s meeting were of the view that the “PTI government in KP is hand in glove with terrorists and has an unholy alliance with terrorists”.

“Terrorists have a clear say in how each district will be run,” he alleged, citing reports from the Intelligence Bureau and law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

He contended that while other political parties faced terrorist attacks in the region, the PTI got “secure access and passage” thanks to its alleged alliance with such groups.

“What is the reason that even police stations of some districts have been sublet to the Taliban?” Tarar asked, emphasising that the case was not merely of inaction and incompetence but of “empowering” the terrorists.

The minister went on to allege that a “power-sharing formula was gradually taking shape between terrorists and the PTI’s KP government, which was starting from southern districts and was ingressing further into the entire KP”.

He said the “unholy alliance and the nexus between them, as a result of which they had outsourced several districts to terrorists,” enabled the martyrdom of people and attacks on civilian infrastructure.

“I say this publicly that these [Taliban] are foreign-funded people who want to bring our country to destruction,” he said, asserting that a provincial government’s facilitation towards such elements was a “constitutional breakdown”.

Tarar referred to the recent bill regarding police assignments and alleged that the KP government wanted to “hire individuals from terrorist groups in the police”. “They were gradually dragging the entire province towards destruction, irrefutable proof and evidence of which is available.”