PTI founder Imran Khan said on Tuesday that his party had been given a mandate by the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and would not act against their interests.
Imran’s remarks come after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday vowed the country would not ‘mortgage’ the security of its people with any country.
“Appeasement of terrorists and their facilitators is never and not a policy,” he said during a press conference in Peshawar, where he spoke at length about the prevailing security environment in KP.
The DG ISPR sounded aggressive when asked about calls by Imran — who is currently in jail — to seek direct negotiations with the Afghan Taliban to end bloodshed in the province ruled by his political party. “The state of Pakistan and its armed forces would not be bothered by political distortions,” he asserted.
“The state and its people will not and cannot be left to the whims of any single person who is singularly the most responsible man for bringing terrorism back to KP,” the ISPR chief said, without taking any names. He had also picked holes in what he called “governance gaps” in the province in terms of infrastructure and funding for counter-terrorism efforts.
In a message posted on Imran’s official X account last night, the PTI founder congratulated KP MPAs over the transition in governance following Sohail Afridi’s election as the new chief minister.
“The way members of the KP Assembly voted for my nominated chief minister, without any ifs or buts, is commendable,” he said.
He also paid tribute to outgoing Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who resigned “not once but thrice” without any hesitation.
He also gave a special message to the new KP chief minister, calling him his “opening batsman” and telling him to play as such.
“The PTI is the largest political party in Pakistan. Branding people associated with the party as traitors just because they do not agree with a certain policy is an extremely dangerous act,” he said, calling for an end to the practice of labelling people as “anti-state”.
“As a politician, it is my right to criticise any policy that is against the interest of the people, the country’s integrity and democracy. I have and will continue to oppose every policy against national interests,” he said.
“The PTI has been given a mandate by the people of KP and we are answerable to them, not the DG ISPR. Therefore, we will never go against the interests of the people of Pakistan and the province,” he said.
Imran asserted that he did not have an enmity with the army, saying: “The army is mine, the country is mine and its people are also mine.”
He went on to say that several members of his family were part of the armed forces, adding that he felt sorrow when soldiers were martyred while fighting against terrorism.
“But unrest still persists and our people are killed on both sides,” he said.
“History has proven that military operations alone are not the solution for terrorism. Our principled position is that military operations in KP are unacceptable because innocent people are martyred in the name of ‘collateral damage’ and are displaced from their areas,” he said.
“For decades, military operations are being conducted but this scourge still remains. Every year, precious blood is being spilt; sometimes army and police personnel are martyred, other times innocent civilians lose their lives in terrorist incidents,” he said.
“I have always said that in order to completely eradicate terrorism, an effective, comprehensive strategy based on political insight is needed instead of decisions taken behind closed doors,” he said. He further said that any policy made without the input and consultation of political representatives and the KP government was unacceptable.
He said that all relevant stakeholders should be taken on board when formulating a policy against terrorism, be it local tribes in the province, the KP government, the federal government or the Afghan government.
“The issue of terrorism cannot be solved without dialogue with the Afghan government,” he said. He then directed the new KP government to talk to relevant stakeholders and formulate an effective and comprehensive strategy against terrorism to ensure peace in the province.
