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Shehbaz Sharif announces Rs160 billion for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as four police die in Karak gunfight
Pakistan's prime minister used a security meeting in Peshawar to defend governor's rule in the province, hours before a counter-terrorism DSP and three colleagues were killed in a raid in Karak. In Balochistan, security forces said they foiled an attack in Gwadar.
Key points
- Shehbaz Sharif announced a Rs160 billion package for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 70% of it for the merged tribal districts.
- A counter-terrorism DSP and three other police personnel were killed in a raid in Karak; two militants also died.
- Security forces said they killed three militants trying to attack a construction camp in Gwadar.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday announced a Rs160 billion package for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and defended the emergency and governor’s rule his government imposed on the province, telling a security meeting in Peshawar that the previous administration had let the fight against militancy slide.
Within hours, the cost of that fight was laid bare again. Four police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of the Counter Terrorism Department, were killed in a gun battle with militants in Karak district.
The meeting in Peshawar
Shehbaz chaired the apex committee of the National Action Plan, Pakistan’s counter-terrorism framework, with federal ministers, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and senior civil, military and police officers. Field Marshal Asim Munir, the army chief, briefed the meeting on the challenges facing the country.
The prime minister blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which governed the province until the federal takeover, for allowing militants to return. He said about 5,000 police posts had been left vacant, Safe City projects delayed and the CTD left weak, and that the federal government had offered the last two PTI chief ministers full support that was never taken up. “The people-related issues, including education and the protection of citizens, were sidelined,” he said.
Samar Bilour, the provincial information adviser, said 70% of the new money would go to the merged districts, the former tribal areas, and the rest to other districts. Problems faced by the police and the CTD would be dealt with on priority, Bilour said.
The takeover came as the PTI prepared a long march on Islamabad. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has called it unconstitutional and undemocratic, and called a province-wide lawyers’ strike against it for Monday.
Raid in Karak
The Karak operation began at noon on Thursday after militants set up a blockade on Chirpira Road, in the Khurram police station area, the night before. Police raided the house of an alleged militant commander, Qaiser Iqbal, in Chirpira, and a long exchange of fire followed.
Police named the dead as CTD DSP Imranuddin Khan; Sub-Inspector Afzal Awan, the station house officer of Latamber; Kazim, the DSP’s guard; and Amjad of the bomb disposal unit. Two militants were also killed. Drone teams, the Rapid Response Force and rescue workers backed the raid, and police said the hunt for others was continuing into the night.
Attack foiled in Gwadar
In Balochistan, security officials said forces had killed three militants who tried to attack an empty construction company camp in the port city of Gwadar on Thursday, and had surrounded three more. A separate operation was under way at a hotel near the Gwadar highway, where four militants were reported to be cornered, with the local general officer commanding directing it himself. Officials did not identify those killed.
Officials blamed the attack on what Pakistan calls “Fitna al-Hindustan”, its term for Baloch militant groups it accuses India of backing.
Earlier this week an army major was killed by a roadside bomb in Gwadar.