PESHAWAR: Reflecting the emergence of a working relationship between the political rivals who rule in the Centre and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against the backdrop of surging terrorist attacks in the region, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur received Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi here on Thursday.

During the meeting, CM Gandapur said KP had suffered the most during the war against militancy, adding that solid steps would be taken to root out militancy and improve the law and order situation in the province, read a statement issued by the CM House.

The interior minister’s visit to the provincial capital came on the heels of a suicide attack in which five Chinese nationals working for the Dasu dam project and a Pakistani lost their lives in the Shangla area.

The federal government decided to improve coordination between the Centre and KP law enforcement agencies and accelerate intelligence-based operations to root out militancy from the province.

Interior minister chairs meeting at CTD office in Peshawar, discusses security issues with chief minister

The decision was taken during a meeting between the interior minister, officials from the counter-terrorism department (CTD) of pol­ice and senior KP police officials.

During the meeting held at the headquarters of the CTD, the interior minister was briefed about the operations being carried out against militants in the province. The meeting was attended by KP Police Chief Akhtar Hayat Khan, CTD officials including Additional IG CTD Shaukat Hayat, DIG CTD Imran Shahid, and head of the National Counter Terrorism Authority Ray Tahir.

The meeting, held with Mr Naqvi in the chair, was informed that the department was carrying out its activities effectively.

It was decided to improve the CTD’s capacity building as it will be given access to important data while its cyber cell will also be expanded, officials said. The federal government would extend all out support to the CTD, the meeting was told.

“KP is on the frontline in the war against militancy,” officials quoted Mr Naqvi as saying. The interior minister went around different sections of the CTD, including the data centre and crime scene.

The statement issued from the CM House read that the interior minister and CM Gandapur strongly condemned the attack on Chinese nationals and vowed to bring the culprits behind the attack to justice. They also discussed the prevailing law and order situation in the province.

“Maintaining law and order situation in the province is the provincial government’s top most priority and for this reason, the law enforcement agencies will be further strengthened,” the statement quoted CM Gandapur as saying.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024