PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi on Wednesday said civilian deaths during security operations constituted a ‘war crime’ and not collateral damage.

After attending the first meeting of the special parliamentary committee on security at the provincial assembly here, the chief minister insisted that under international standards, collateral damage was assessed on the basis of “intention and proportion”.

Without naming names, he said, “they knew their intentions” for security operations and as for collateral damage, its acceptable rate under international standards was two per cent of the total deaths during a security operation, but on the contrary, 21 people were martyred in one security operation in the province but not even a single terrorist was killed.

“These civilian deaths are not collateral damage but amount to a war crime. There should be an end to such fatalities,” he said.

PA panel on security emphasises unity for peace in province

Mr Afridi said the special parliamentary committee on security was looking into the matter and would hopefully find a solution.

He said that a decision on his visit to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to meet his party PTI’s founder, Imran Khan, would be taken in Wednesday evening as voting for the Senate elections was to be held in the provincial assemblyon Thursday.

Earlier, the special parliamentary committee on security emphasised unity for “national security and peace in the province”.

Sources told Dawn that participants voiced commitment to taking ownership of the entire process but asked the treasury to take the lead for being in power.

They said the opposition members wanted to know how far the government could go for maintaining law and order in the province.

The parliamentary committee was formed on Sept 8 during a provincial assembly session after the conclusion of discussion on the law and order situation in the province. The house was told that the committee would be briefed by the officials involved in operations against terrorists in the province and would decide its terms of reference for discussing ways for restoration of peace.

During the meeting held on the assembly’s premises, representatives of all political parties from the house met for almost four hours and suggested that all stakeholders must be taken on board for a decision regarding restoration of peace in the province.

The opposition promised all-out support to the government’s “sincere” efforts to resolve the security issue. The participants also called for building consensus on the matter.

“The opposition has issues with the government but the assembly can be used as a platform. We also want a multi-party conference to be held as soon as possible,” a participant said.

Another participant said political parties wanted an early return of peace to the region, with the opposition ready to support the government for it.

Sources said the chief minister, who attended the meeting before the first session’s conclusion, assured participants that his government would “own and implement” the committee’s suggestions to ensure lasting peace in the province.

They said both treasury and opposition benches vowed to sincerely work for peace, with the chief minister wanting consensus to be developed for action.

Meanwhile, Mr Afridi announced the introduction of a law to check collateral damage in security operations, saying the lives of innocent people should not be taken in anti-terrorist actions.

“Collateral damage is a cancer that only increases terrorism instead of controlling it,” the chief minister told a function of the high court bar association here.

Mr Afridi said the Almighty Allah had ordained in the Holy Quran that killing of a single innocent person amounted to killing the entire humanity, so the lives of common people should be protected.

He said he had spoken to speaker of the provincial assembly Babar Saleem Swati about legislation to check collateral damage in security operations and take appropriate action in case of civilian deaths.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2025