Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrives in Davos to attend the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Photo: APP
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday made it clear that the impression of any confrontation between the federal government and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was wrong, but said attempts had been made to aggravate the situation through lies and propaganda.
Addressing participants from KP at a national workshop, Shehbaz delivered a wide-ranging speech focusing on terrorism, federal-provincial relations and national development, stressing that Pakistan’s real progress was impossible unless all four provinces moved forward together.
He said that lies and propaganda on social media poisoned the minds of the youth to such an extent that even the great sacrifices of martyrs were offended, echoing the language of the enemy across the border.
Reiterating the state’s resolve, Shehbaz said the nation would not rest until terrorism was completely eliminated. Describing KP as an extremely important and strategic province, he said its people had made unparalleled sacrifices in the war against terrorism.
He said that after the Afghan war, millions of Afghan refugees were received by the people of KP as a sense of duty. However, he added that this also led to the rise of the Kalashnikov culture and terrorism in the country, resulting in thousands of innocent civilians being martyred.
“After APS [Army Public School] tragedy [in December 2014]a unanimous decision was made that there would be no distinction between good and bad Taliban,” the prime minister told attendees.
He said that terrorism was brought under control after the sacrifices of more than 100,000 soldiers, officers and civilians, but due to certain wrong decisions taken after 2018, the menace resurfaced, harming national development.
Shehbaz vowed that terrorism would not be allowed to defeat Pakistan and stressed that the nation would continue its struggle until all terrorist elements were eliminated. He warned that appeasement and ambiguity in the past had already cost the country dearly.
Responding to a question on Afghanistan, the prime minister said talks were being held with the Afghan interim government in Doha and elsewhere, but Pakistan’s concerns were not taken seriously by the regime in Kabul.
“Terrorism against Pakistan continued from Afghan soil and forced Pakistan to take tough decisions,” he said, adding that it was now up to the Afghan interim government to decide whether it wanted to live as a peaceful neighbor.
Referring to the Centre-KP ties, the Prime Minister said that during the last 15 years, about Rs 800 billion had been provided to the province to fight terrorism, but the level of development in other provinces was not visible there.
He recalled that under the 2010 National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, Punjab gave 1% of its share to KP to help it confront terrorism, while additional resources were also given to Balochistan.
He said Rs 400 billion had been allocated. to Balochistan’s ‘bloody highway’, that the federal government had provided Rs 50 billion for the project of solar tube wells for farmers, and a network of Danish schools was being established in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The prime minister said that in response to India’s aggression on May 6, Pakistan mounted a strong defense and shot down seven enemy fighters, adding that under the leadership of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the enemy was taught a lesson it would always remember.
(WITH ACCESS FROM APP)
