Govt assails PTI over 'lack of governance' in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar criticized the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) for its poor governance in the province. At a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar alleged that the provincial government had received Rs700 billion under the National Finance Commission for development projects.

He pointed out that the government had failed to upgrade the Counter Terrorism Department, establish forensic labs, or install safe city cameras required in KP's merged districts and entry-exit points.

Tarar further accused the PTI-led government of using the allocated funds for organizing protests instead of addressing terrorism in the province. He criticized the PTI for organizing long meetings instead of discussing terrorism and spreading turmoil and vandalism. The information minister also claimed that the PTI had trapped millions of people in the province, leaving them in poverty, disease, ignorance, and non-development due to lack of healthcare facilities, educational opportunities, and infrastructure improvements.

Tarar further alleged that the KP government had trapped the people of the province in the clutches of terrorists, prioritizing their interests over national interests. He suggested that the PTI was the "B-team" of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, facilitating terrorists in settling in the country. He questioned how long it would be before security forces could clear terrorist-infested areas and establish peace again, only for terrorists to return?

During his address, Tarar stated that the PTI government in KP had dragged the province into the "stone age" during the last 13-and-a-half years. He cited various federal government projects and claimed that there was no comparison in hours spent working on governance issues and relief measures by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.

Tarar questioned how many hours Afridi had spent on governance, emphasizing that the chief ministers of all other provinces were working hard to address governance issues and provide relief and reform measures. He asked why there were no big hospitals, universities, highways, information technology projects, laptops, or gadgets for the youth of KP.

He concluded by stating that the KP government wanted to hand over the province to terrorists, prioritizing personal interests over national interests. "This province needs peace, not politics," Tarar stated.