Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday called for the inclusion of the provincial government in the formulation of counter-terrorism policies.
Addressing a convocation at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University in Peshawar, CM Afridi said: “If [you] really want to eliminate terrorism, then come and formulate the policy with us.”
His remarks came a day after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry came down hard on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership in KP, blaming it for the rising terrorism.
The chief minister, while addressing the convocation, stressed that anti-terrorism operations should be carried out after taking the nation into confidence.
He said that they restored peace after great hardship, but “closed-door decisions” had once again made life difficult for its people.
The PTI-backed chief minister said that they had rendered sacrifices for Pakistan repeatedly and would continue to do so.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the compensation announced by the federal government for people whose houses were destroyed during the war on terror.
Stressing the need for a shift in the existing policy against terrorism, the chief minister said that a new policy should be made in consultation with the KP government, tribal elders and other stakeholders.
An annual report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies also mentions that KP experienced the most significant surge, where the “fatalities rose from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025” – more than 40% year-on-year increase in the province.
Lt Gen Chaudhry, a day earlier, had detailed that nearly 71% of terrorist incidents occurred in 2025 reported from KP and stressed that the primary reason for this is a “politically conducive environment and the flourishing political-criminal-terror-nexus which is flourishing there”.
The military’s spokesperson had also criticised KP CM Afridi’s position on talks and dismissed calls for Afghan security guarantees, while questioning opposition to counterterrorism operations.
The PTI builds a false narrative while sitting in assemblies, he had said, questioning whether the army was sent to KP “with shovels to extract minerals”.
“If you do not want a military operation, then what should be done – sit at the feet of khawarij?” the ISPR DG had said. “Should khawarij leader Noor Wali Mehsud be made the province’s chief minister and allegiance pledged to him?” he had asked.
He had maintained that seeking assurances from a group accused of harbouring terrorists was illogical, reiterating that counterterrorism required firm state action rather than political ambiguity.
Referring to governance issues, he had said illegal mining was taking place in KP and linked the proliferation of illegal weapons directly to terrorism.