PESHAWAR: Following public outcry from his own constituency over drone attacks, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday hinted at introducing legislation to criminalise collateral damage in such incidents.

The development comes after a meeting of lawmakers from the respective districts decided that the issue would be taken up in the provincial assembly, while vowing to put up a joint front to protect civilians.

“We held a meeting on bringing a law against drone attacks, but ‘they’ have protected themselves in the Constitution against drone attacks … However, we can legislate against collateral damage,” Afridi said on Thursday without specifying further. He made the remarks while speaking during a session of the KP Assembly summoned to discuss the issue.

CM Afridi alleged that whenever he protested against a drone strike, he received a message that “they” understood the situation and were sorry. The chief minister questioned why such incidents never targeted sensitive installations and only targeted the people of the province.

In his fiery speech, CM Afridi also questioned the results of military operations during the last 20 years. He said that not just KP but the entire country had been destroyed due to decisions taken behind closed doors.

The chief minister also termed the Action in Aid of Civil Power Ordinance a “draconian law”.

The Action in Aid of Civil Power Ordinance, passed in 2019, authorises the armed forces to detain an individual at any time and anywhere in the province without assigning any reason and without producing the accused before a court of law.

In his speech, Afridi said that a jirga would be summoned on Saturday against drone strikes, while the opposition was also told to ensure tribal elders’ presence for deciding the future course of action.

Earlier in the session, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Swati deferred the day’s agenda, saying he had done so due to an uptick in the number of drone strikes in the province.

“There is no end in sight to the [military] operations in our province,” he said.

Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Public Relations Shafi Jan alleged that the drone attacks were pre-planned, and “are being done to undermine only one political party”. Jan said the jirga summoned for Saturday would decide the future course of action — whether to march towards Islamabad or protest outside the KP Assembly or the National Assembly.

He added that the government had decided not to tolerate it anymore, reiterating the chief minister’s stance of not accepting the decisions taken behind closed doors.

“Hatred takes a second to spread but years to fade away,” he said.

MPA Ajmal Khan said the only permanent solution to the problem was a dialogue with Afghanistan. “We face the direct impact of the situation in Afghanistan. Islamabad and Kabul should continue talks, but Peshawar must be included,” Khan said.

PML-N’s Rashad Khan said the province was rich in minerals, forests and hydel power, but the law and order situation had destroyed the economy.

Treasury MPA Anwar Zeb Khan said that amid fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, shells landed in civilian areas.

“Please give a ruling so that military camps in residential areas are relocated,” he requested the speaker.

Meanwhile, Awami National Party’s Muhammad Nisar stated that tribesmen had been suffering from drone strikes.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Maulana Lutfur Rehman said the region had been facing a law and order situation for almost 30 years, adding that the economy could not improve without peace.

“Discussing our problems here in the House will never resolve issues,” he said. However, PPP’s Ahmad Karim Kundi contradicted Rehman, saying the right forum for resolving issues was the KP Assembly.

During the session, the House also passed three bills — the KP Assembly Powers, Immunities and Privileges Bill 2026; the KP Province Speaker and Deputy Speaker Immunities, Privileges, Salaries and Allowances Bill 2026; and the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Salaries and Allowances of the members Bill 2026. The bills were tabled by Minister for Law Aftab Alam Afridi.

The sitting was later adjourned till 2pm on May 4.

The jirga organised on Tuesday by CM Afridi came following a drone strike in his native Khyber district, which claimed the life of a minor girl and injured six members of a family a day earlier. The family of the slain girl held a protest in Peshawar near the Hayatabad toll plaza, and were dispersed by violent police action.

The participants declared the civilian casualties from both terrorism and drone strikes were unacceptable, saying the people from tribal areas were paying a “double price”.

“Neither terrorism nor civilian deaths in drone strikes are acceptable,” they said, according to a statement issued by the CM’s media office. The participants also demanded an end to this cycle of violence, saying tribal districts could not be subjected to a condition in which they were simultaneously victims of militant violence and collateral damage from operations.

They also took exception to the classification of civilian casualties as “mistakes,” questioning why these so-called mistakes persistently occurred in populated areas, a participant of the meeting told Dawn on condition of anonymity.