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PESHAWAR As the nation battles the worst floods in its history, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government warned on Thursday that militants were regrouping in areas around Peshawar and could launch an attack anytime.
The warning came a day before the provincial government hosts a donors' conference in Islamabad to seek assistance for rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.
Representatives of the United Nations, US, European Union, Gulf states, China and lending agencies have been invited to the conference. Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti will brief them on the devastation caused by the floods.
Addressing a press conference here, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said “Militants are reorganising themselves and planning terrorist activities. Therefore, the federal government should act immediately against them.”
A couple of days ago, he said, about 200 militants from the Khyber Agency clashed with police and paramilitary forces in Serband area, near Peshawar.
Militants killed two elders in Adezai area in the Frontier Region of Peshawar. Two suspected suicide bombers have been arrested in Mathra area, adjacent to the Mohmand Agency.
“Resurgence of militancy in the region can pose a serious threat to the country, if the KP government does not get immediate help from the federal government and the international community,” Mian Iftikhar said, adding that KP alone could not cope with the natural disaster and combat militancy at the same time.
Floods have killed 1,015 people in the province and rendered over 4.2 million homeless. A large number of houses and roads and bridges have been washed away.
When asked why was his government convening a donors' conference when other three provinces were not doing so, Mian Iftikhar said the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should not be compared with that in other provinces.
“We are fighting insurgency and we have also been hit by a massive natural disaster,” he said, adding that both the issues -- flood disaster and militancy -- would be taken up at the conference.
He said he feared that militants could take advantage of the situation if the provincial government diverted its resources and attention from militancy to relief activities.
