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ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (APP):State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Tuesday defended the federal government’s decision to reclaim vehicles, police equipment and personnel provided to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police and accused provincial leadership of politicising life-saving resources.
Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament House, he also criticised the Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) and said the federal government remained open for talks with political and religious leaders.
“Maulana Fazlur Rehman has called his workers to come to Islamabad; we are making arrangements for that as well,” Chaudhry said, adding the government would continue efforts to bring the Maulana “on board” and would not allow him to be alienated. “He is a political and religious figure whose suggestion, we have always respected.”
But the bulk of the minister’s remarks were directed at KP’s provincial authorities specialy Chief Minister KPK Sohail Afridi.
Announcing that the federal government, the Ministry of Interior and the Interior Minister had decided to take back vehicles, police equipment, officers and men that had been provided earlier, Chaudhry rejected claims that the vehicles were unserviceable. He pointed to a vehicle parked behind him as an example and said similar models were used by federal ministers and senior security officers.
“These vehicles are not junk. The approximate price of this vehicle is ten crore rupees per vehicle, and it has all the facilities that should be present according to international standards for armoured and bomb-proof vehicles,” he said.
Chaudhry argued that the equipment should have been distributed earlier from federal funds allocated to KP to fight terrorism. “These vehicles should have been given to KP from that six hundred billion rupees which the federation provided to them over the last one and a half decades to wage the war on terrorism,” he said, accusing provincial authorities of failing to develop capabilities such as a CTD, Safe City projects, bullet-proof jackets, armoured vehicles and modern weapons.
He criticised what he described as political motives and “childish thinking” behind KP’s decisions, naming the province’s chief minister and alleging the chief minister’s appointment served an agenda other than public service. “You can change chief ministers till you are tired, but you will not be seen to stop action,” Chaudhry warned, stressing that the National Action Plan and anti-terror operations would continue.
Chaudhry also accused some provincial leaders of abandoning police personnel “on the battlefield,” and warned of political gains for those who would see the state weakened by terrorism. He said provinces like Punjab, which invested in CTD units, Safe Cities and police equipment, were reaping security benefits, while KP had received substantial federal funds yet lagged in capability-building.
On the TLP, Chaudhry labelled the party’s agenda “unclear” and its leadership “extremist,” and said elements of its past activism were hypocritical. He alleged that dozens of bank accounts linked to the party’s leaders were earning profits from the banking system they publicly denounced and that investigators had identified scores of accounts containing large transactions. “We are going to make public a hundred accounts that have crores of rupees in transactions,” he said.
The minister also referenced past events, including the Faizabad sit-in and cross-border security concerns involving Afghanistan. He said Pakistan had taken retaliatory and defensive measures against elements using Afghan territory to launch attacks and that ongoing dialogues — including talks linked to Doha — were beginning to exert pressure on terrorists.
Chaudhry urged provincial leaders to prioritise security over theatrics and political point-scoring. “What is sad is that the brave police officers and men who are fighting unarmed, without equipment whom you abandoned on the battlefield and did not stand with politically, are giving martyrdom,” he said, warning that any resulting loss of life would be the responsibility of those who politicised security matters.