Gandapur rejects PM’s claims of lawlessness, ineffective CTD in KP

Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday rejected the Centre's claims of his administration's inability to cope with security challenges and empower Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the province.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar he said that the law and order situation has improved in our government.

He rejected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's statement of CTD's ineffectiveness to uproot terrorism in the province. “The counterterrorism department was fully functional and carried out thousands of successful operations against terrorists,” he maintained.

He further detailed that the provincial government will disburse an additional Rs1 billion to the CTD. Special cells have been prepared for the department to keep the arrested suspects, he added.

The KP CM went on to say that his administration was also purchasing 20 bulletproof vehicles besides announcing to hand over funds to the CTD personnel for 300 kits and drones.

He added that the quota for martyred officials has been increased from 5% to 12%, as well as, awarding plots to the heirs of the martyrs.

Gandapur also highlighted that the performance of the province's prosecution has also improved during his tenure and more people would be inducted into the prosecution's team next week.

The federal government was creating "confusions" among the KP people, said the chief minister said, adding that the Centre has not disbursed a single penny to the province for counterterrorism.

The provincial government has also yet to receive Rs40 million in terms of uplifting funds for the merged tribal districts, he added.

Commenting on deadly clashes among rival tribes in Kurram, Gandapur said that the issue was still "confusing".

The deadly tribal clashes continued in KP's Kurram District for the 11th consecutive day, claiming six more lives with eight more wounded despite a 10-day truce was brokered last week, but intermittent violence has rendered it ineffective.