Timely Imposition of Governor’s Rule in KP Prevented Further Damage to Province: PM Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the imposition of Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was necessary under the prevailing circumstances, warning that any delay could have caused further damage to the province.

Addressing the parliamentary party and office-bearers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the prime minister said the government had attempted to resolve the situation through negotiations before taking the decision.

He said committees representing the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N held negotiations for 48 hours, but approval of the draft agreed upon during the talks remained pending.

“Taking a decision had become necessary to protect the people, the country, the economy and society. Had we not acted in time, the province could have suffered further damage,” he said.

The prime minister said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a beautiful province with courageous, dignified and resilient people. He added that PML-N had played an important role in promoting democratic traditions in the province.

Recalling the 2013 general elections, Shehbaz Sharif said PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif had allowed the majority party in the province to form the government, demonstrating his democratic approach and political tolerance.

He criticised the party that had remained in power in the province for the past 13 years, questioning how many universities and hospitals had been established during that period.

He said political slogans and divisions had received more attention than public service, while problems faced by people from Peshawar to Kohistan, Hazara and the southern districts remained neglected.

Terrorism and Afghan Militants

The prime minister said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had made immense sacrifices in the fight against terrorism, alongside the police, armed forces and political leadership.

He recalled that Pakistan had suffered enormous human and economic losses in the war against terrorism. During Nawaz Sharif’s tenure, he said, the nation and state institutions had worked together to eliminate the menace.

Referring to the Army Public School (APS) tragedy in Peshawar, Shehbaz Sharif said the martyrdom of innocent children remained one of the most painful incidents in the country’s history.

He alleged that terrorists had been brought back from Afghanistan and resettled in Pakistan during 2019 and 2020, resulting in a resurgence of terrorism that caused serious damage to the country.

He said the government had invited political forces to join hands against terrorism, as had been done in the past, but its appeal had not been heeded.

Questions Over Rs800 Billion in Additional Resources

Shehbaz Sharif said an additional one per cent share of resources had been allocated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the 2010 National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

He claimed that the province had received around Rs800 billion under this arrangement and questioned how many Safe City projects had been established using these funds.

He also asked how much the provincial Counter-Terrorism Department had been strengthened and why around 5,000 vacant police positions had not been filled.

The prime minister said available resources should have been spent on providing modern weapons and professional training to the police to improve their capacity to tackle terrorism.

Criticism of Political Protests and Economic Measures

The prime minister said Pakistan had witnessed a prolonged period of long marches and sit-in politics over the past two and a half years.

He recalled that the 2014 sit-in had led to the postponement of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan. During his visit in 2015, important agreements were subsequently signed.

He also credited Nawaz Sharif’s efforts with ending prolonged power outages of up to 20 hours a day.

Speaking about the economy, Shehbaz Sharif said the country’s political and military leadership had worked hard to stabilise the economy.

He said international developments and the Gulf conflict had caused an extraordinary increase in energy prices. Despite these challenges, the government had launched a fuel subsidy scheme to provide relief to the public.

According to the prime minister, around 13 million people had benefited from the scheme, for which the government allocated Rs75 billion.

He said providing relief to low-income citizens remained a key government priority and that all possible measures were being taken to protect the economy from instability.

Shehbaz Sharif concluded that PML-N would continue its efforts for the development, prosperity and public welfare of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.