PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed to work with the military leadership to resolve the problems faced by the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), saying the province had suffered greatly from years of unrest and neglect.
Chairing a meeting of the federal Apex Committee at the Governor House in Peshawar, the prime minister said emergency and governor’s rule had to be imposed in the province under “extreme compulsion”.
He expressed hope that the decision would help advance peace and development in the province.
Shehbaz said the country’s economy had stabilised through the efforts of the political and military leadership, adding that coordinated efforts were needed to ensure lasting peace and development in KP.
He said the province had been severely affected by developments over the past six years, which had undermined law and order.
He paid tribute to the armed forces and other security institutions for their sacrifices in eliminating terrorism, saying failure to acknowledge those sacrifices amounted to hostility towards the country.
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He accused the PTI government of neglecting education, healthcare and other public services, calling the failure to address these sectors an example of serious negligence.
The prime minister said the federal government had provided Rs800 billion for counterterrorism efforts in KP since 2010, expressing concern that terrorism had resurged despite the funding.
Questioning whether the federal government could continue to watch the province suffer from violence and instability, Shehbaz said consultations had been held with the president twice on the situation in KP before difficult decisions were taken.
He said the people of the province had been deprived of solutions to their basic problems for the past 13 years and stressed that the recent changes must produce positive results for them.
The prime minister said that corruption scandals had emerged in KP in recent years, stating that Rs100 billion in corruption had occurred in a clean drinking water project and cited a separate Rs37 billion scandal in Kohistan.
He further stated that contracts under the placer gold project had been awarded to favoured parties in violation of established principles.