The KP apex committee meeting on Monday placed the fight against terrorism at the top of the new administration’s agenda. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi co-chaired the session in Peshawar. It was held a day after the federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule in KP on Sunday.
Mr Kundi told the meeting that development could wait where security was at stake. The province could sacrifice development, he said, but it could never sacrifice security. He said the new set-up would treat counterterrorism as its first priority.
KP apex committee meeting hears pledge on police and CTD demands
The governor pointed to a lack of coordination in past counterterrorism work in the province. That gap would now close, he said, and the administration would meet the demands of the Counter Terrorism Department and the police. He added that the administration would work around the clock, with no room for holidays or weekends.
He also set out the test he wants applied. The administration would move towards result-based action rather than cosmetic steps, he said. He named Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Waziristan as districts where people had lost the simple freedom to live and travel safely. Restoring that freedom of movement, he said, was a central aim.
Mr Kundi said the people of the province wanted peace, prosperity and development. He expressed the hope that his administration would be remembered for restoring peace. He also confirmed that apex committee meetings would now be held regularly.
Naqvi says Centre and province are finally aligned
Mr Naqvi told the meeting that, for the first time, he could say with pride that the federal and provincial governments stood on the same page. The past two and a half years, he recalled, had seen many ups and downs between Islamabad and Peshawar.
The minister reserved his sharpest words for the removed PTI-led government. Leading the war against terrorism had been the provincial government’s own job, he said, and it had not done it. The Centre had asked for cooperation dozens of times, he added, without a result.
He also spoke about the personnel who serve on the ground. The hardest work, he said, fell on people who fought that war without support behind them. The force itself had not changed, he argued. The difference, he said, would come from a government that leads it, and the same people would then show better results.
Mr Naqvi cautioned that change would not come in a single day. Difficult times lay ahead, he said, but the governor, the police, the administration and the federal government would face them together.
A first full day for the new set-up
Monday’s meeting capped a fast-moving 24 hours in the province. On Sunday, Mr Kundi chaired the first meeting of the 11-member KP Advisory Council, where he promised fast-tracked work and zero tolerance for corruption. Hours earlier in Islamabad on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar defended the KP emergency at a seminar, insisting the move targeted terrorism and not politics.
The human side of the change is already visible. Talal Chaudhry has confirmed that suspended chief minister Sohail Afridi is in preventive custody, along with some of his cabinet members. The PTI, for its part, has moved to challenge the KP emergency in the Peshawar High Court.
For residents, the pledge that matters is the practical one. The new administration has promised stronger backing for the police and the CTD, regular apex committee sessions, and visible results on the ground. Whether attack levels fall in the districts Mr Kundi named will be the measure of that promise. (Source: Dawn)
Frequently asked questions
Who chaired the KP apex committee meeting?
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi co-chaired the meeting in Peshawar on Monday. It was the first apex committee session held under the new administration, a day after emergency and governor’s rule were imposed.
What did Governor Kundi promise at the meeting?
Mr Kundi said security would come before development spending. He pledged that the demands of the police and the Counter Terrorism Department would be met, and he said apex committee meetings would be held regularly.
What did Mohsin Naqvi say about the former provincial government?
Mr Naqvi said the PTI-led government had failed to lead the war against terrorism despite repeated requests for cooperation from the Centre. He said the federal and provincial governments were now aligned for the first time.
