PESHAWAR: The police’s raid on a Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement camp in Khyber tribal district has triggered a controversy, with both the provincial and federal governments holding each other responsible for it.

The Khyber police set fire to a PTM camp, established for holding the Oct 11 jirga Awami Adalat, during multiple raids on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The PTM activists insisted that the camp was raided by Peshawar and Khyber police’s officials, who uprooted tents and took away goods amid intense tear gas shelling and firing in the air.

Senior government officials told Dawn that a letter was issued by the home department to the provincial police chief for ‘necessary action’ in line with the orders of the interior ministry for Khyber police action against the PTM, the provincial government distanced itself from the raids.

CM adviser Saif insists chief secy acted on orders of interior ministry

Adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif told Dawn that the police carried out raids after the provincial chief secretary “directly” received orders from the federal government.

He added that the chief secretary later ordered the police action.

“The chief secretary directly received orders from the interior ministry before the police acted against the PTM under Section 11 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997,” he said.

The aide to the CM said that it was beyond the provincial government’s jurisdiction to take action against the chief secretary and police for “bypassing” the provincial government.

He said that if the federal government was not involved in the police action against PTM, why the interior ministry sent in the deputy attorney general for Pakistan to appear before the high court in the case filed by the PTM against those raids.

“I say it again that the police took action and followed the law, but all that was done on the orders issued by the federal government,” he said.

On the other hand, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi questioned the need for the police’s crackdown on PTM and wondered if Islamabad police took action inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“On one hand, you insist that the federal government ordered a crackdown [on PTM], but on the other, you say it was Peshawar’s police that took action. First clear yourself about it,” Mr Naqvi told reporters in Islamabad.

The minister said that the question about the Khyber action should be put to Peshawar police and not him.

He emphasised that the Peshawar police didn’t act on the orders of the interior ministry.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024