Governor Faisal Karim Kundi (from L) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi (C) and Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry. Photo: Files
HARIpur/ISLAMABAD:
Friction between the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments over the Tirah Valley continued unabated on Wednesday as the former maintained that no operation was carried out while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi stuck to his claims.
Thousands of families remain displaced from the Tirah Valley in Khyber district as the KP government oversees their relocation amid deteriorating security and heavy snowfall. According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, the evacuation began on January 10. So far, 11,400 families have been registered, with more than 10,000 relocated to safer areas, including Bara and Peshawar.
The move has also led to a clash of narratives between the federal and provincial governments. The federal government maintains that only small, intelligence-based operations against militants are underway and that there is no need for mass evacuation. The provincial government denies this claim.
In a televised announcement, Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry maintained that no operations were being carried out in the region other than what was part of the National Action Plan (NAP) approved by the KP government
Referring to the KP government, Talal said that “they keep taking the name of the army to hide their own performance, incompetence, incompetence and especially the corruption that took place in the Rs4 billion allocated to Tirah Valley.”
The minister claimed that the federal government or army was not mentioned in any document or notification. He said that as soon as people moved from Tirah to other areas and Rs4 billion in payments were made, “it came to light that more than half of the money had been kept by these very people for another purpose. Then, to hide it, they started to construct a baseless narrative that is completely detached from reality.”
He said that if any action was underway across the country, it was under the NAP, which was formulated under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. “The KP government is fully on board in any action under the NAP,” Talal added.
He said other provincial governments had proved that they could fight terrorism and eliminate terrorists. “In KP you couldn’t do this because to create political narratives, to get votes, to hide corruption for billions of rupees, to divert attention from your performance, you start creating a narrative based on lies – sometimes revolution, sometimes freedom, sometimes November 26, sometimes May 9.”
Talal said these slogans “neither change the life of the common man, nor bring health, education and peace to the people of KP, nor eliminate terrorism”.
Citing the Kohistan scandal, the minister said Rs14b was withdrawn from a truck driver’s account and claimed that a similar scandal involving Rs4b took place in Tirah Valley.
“There is no federal government involvement, no army and no operation is taking place,” he claimed, adding that routine operations and intelligence-based operations (IBOs) under the NAP continued with the knowledge and cooperation of the KP government.
“They are fully participating in these actions, but to appear good in the eyes of the people and to malign the army, lies are being told,” he said. “Tell me, if the federation had an operation, who would issue the announcement? If the army were to conduct an operation, have operations in Pakistan not been announced before?” asked the minister.
He stated, “whenever an operation is to be carried out, it will be openly announced. There is no new operation of any kind, nor is there any operation going on in the Tirah Valley.”
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi supported the federal government’s stand and stated that the announcement of the Tirah operation was made by the KP government and not by the federal government.
He said the federal government issued a very clear statement yesterday that “we will not carry out any operation.”
The governor added that together with the leader of the opposition, “we will conduct aerial surveillance and during this I will ask our federal agencies to also conduct surveillance.”
Referring to the people of Tirah, Kundi stated: “these are our citizens, these are our people, and God willing, we stand with them with dignity, whether they give us a mandate or not. But we will not let KP slip out of our hands.”
He added, “we will not hand over these people to this party of chaos that only wants to spread hatred – against the federation, against other provinces.”
Kundi also called on Acting President Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani at his residence here and discussed the overall situation in the province including law and order, good governance and security challenges.
During the meeting, the governor briefed the Acting President on the temporary displacement from the Tirah Valley and informed him about the relief and rehabilitation measures initiated for the affected families. He said Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Merged Districts Branch was fully engaged in providing assistance to Tirah affected.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, had also dismissed the KP Chief Minister’s remarks on the Tirah Valley operation, calling them “false, politically driven and misleading”.
In a post on X, he said it was irresponsible and against the country’s interests to use a serious national issue such as terrorism for political purposes.
He added that such issues required national unity, not political point-scoring.
The minister said the steps taken in Tirah Valley were not aimed at any person, political party or government.
He said the measures were necessary to restore peace, protect citizens and completely eliminate terrorism from the country.
KP CM
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Afridi said during a visit to Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology that heavy snowfall had left people stranded in the Tirah Valley, forcing many to spend freezing nights on the roads.
He questioned why the situation had worsened and blamed what he described as “behind closed doors” decisions to launch a military operation. He said a military operation was not a solution, adding that it was not only the PTI that said so, but political and religious parties across KP were also urging that a military operation would not solve the problem.
Calling for what he described as a “permanent and consolidated solution”, Afridi said all stakeholders must sit together and develop a comprehensive strategy.
He criticized decision-making by a small group, claiming that some people “sitting behind closed doors” believed they alone were smart enough to decide, and said bad advice had left Pakistan “stuck in a quagmire”.
The chief minister added that peace was essential to improve education and attract investment, but claimed there was a “mindset” that prevented stability in the province. “With your help I will defeat this mindset,” he said.
A special assistant to the chief minister for information has criticized federal ministers Attaullah Tarar and Talal Chaudhry after their press conference, accusing them of spreading “disinformation” and running what he called a coordinated campaign against the provincial leader.
Shafi said the two ministers were a “product of Form 47” and should not be lecturing others on public policy – a phrase commonly used as a jibe at contested election results. He said the narrative of Shehbaz Sharif’s “nau ratans” was a “complete failure”.
Referring to the Tirah Valley issue, Shafi said that Talal Chaudhry’s press conferences and speeches in the National Assembly were recorded. “Now how can they claim that there is politics going on in Tirah?” he said.
