Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over its 13 years in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, accusing successive provincial governments of prioritising political slogans and confrontational politics over public service delivery.
Addressing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary party and office-bearers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shehbaz questioned how many universities and hospitals had been established in the province during that period.
He said public services had remained neglected from Peshawar to Kohistan, Hazara and the southern districts, adding that further delays in taking decisions on public issues could have caused significant damage.
The prime minister also criticised the PTI’s political protests, recalling its 2014 sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk.
He said the protest disrupted preparations for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Pakistan, which was subsequently postponed. Xi visited Pakistan in April 2015, when the two countries signed major agreements.
Shehbaz highlights sacrifices in war against terrorism
The prime minister said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had made enormous sacrifices in the fight against terrorism, alongside the armed forces, police and other citizens.
Recalling the Army Public School (APS) attack in Peshawar, he described the killing of schoolchildren and teachers as a tragedy that remained painful for the country.
Shehbaz said Pakistan had lost around 80,000 people and suffered economic damage estimated at $150 billion to $200 billion during the war against terrorism.
He credited the collective efforts of the public, military and police with the elimination of terrorism, saying the threat had been brought under control by 2017–18.
However, he blamed the resurgence of militancy on the return and resettlement of terrorists from Afghanistan in 2019 and 2020.
The prime minister said thousands of civilians, police personnel and military personnel had been killed in attacks over the past two and a half years.
He said the government had called for a united response to terrorism but its appeals had not been heeded.
Questions over NFC funds and police capacity
Shehbaz also raised questions about the use of additional financial resources allocated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.
He said the province had received an additional one per cent share under the NFC arrangement and claimed it had received Rs800 billion so far.
He questioned how many Safe City projects had been established using the funds and whether the province’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had been adequately strengthened.
The prime minister also claimed that 5,000 police positions remained vacant, arguing that provincial resources should have been used to recruit personnel and provide modern weapons and training to law enforcement agencies.
Credits Nawaz Sharif for ending power outages
The prime minister credited former premier Nawaz Sharif with eliminating prolonged electricity outages, which had reached up to 20 hours a day in parts of the country.
He said Nawaz Sharif had worked tirelessly to address the energy crisis and also praised the political and military leadership for efforts to stabilise the economy.
Shehbaz acknowledged that global conditions and the Gulf conflict had contributed to a significant increase in energy prices.
