PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) central spokesperson Engr Ehsanullah Khan on Friday expressed serious concern over the country’s political, economic and security situation, saying lack of seriousness on part of the government was complicating problems instead of resolving them.

In a statement, Mr Khan said the security crisis in the merged districts, deteriorating infrastructure, provincial mismanagement and ineffective federal economic policies had pushed citizens into growing hardship.

He said the worsening law and order situation in the merged districts, particularly in the southern region, coupled with a lack of development funds and incomplete health, education, judicial and security infrastructure, reflected what he described as the failure of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s 12-year rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Referring to the merger process, Mr Khan said that while Levies and Khasadar personnel had been integrated into police force, no effective mechanism had been established for provision of professional training, modern weaponry, protective equipment or institutional support.

He claimed that a force comprising hundreds of thousands of personnel had been left vulnerable in the face of militants equipped with modern weapons.

Calling for greater transparency, the ANP leader urged the state to give an in-camera briefing to parliament to clarify the strategy being adopted in the fight against militancy and whether responsibility would remain with state security institutions or would shift towards peace committees and private armed groups.

Mr Khan also criticised the continuation of strict security laws after the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), saying that despite the formal end of the colonial-era legal framework, measures such as the action in aid of civil power law remained in effect across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“If merged districts were not to be granted genuine authority and constitutional rights, then the purpose of the merger itself comes into question,” he said.

TERROR ATTACKS: Meanwhile. Awami National Party (ANP) on Friday strongly condemned the suicide blast outside a mosque in Lakki Marwat and accused both the provincial and federal governments of failing to address the deteriorating security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking at a press conference in Peshawar, ANP provincial president Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the province continued to suffer from recurring incidents of terrorism, particularly in southern districts, while authorities remained indifferent.

He said security incidents had become a near-daily occurrence and alleged that the government had relegated peace and security to a secondary concern. He questioned why provincial and federal authorities could coordinate on financial issues yet remained unable to devise a joint strategy to eradicate militancy.

Condemning attacks on mosques and religious institutions, Mr Hussain said such acts had no justification. He noted that casualties could have been much higher had the attacker managed to enter the mosque. He also condemned an earlier attempt to target a police vehicle in Lakki Marwat and expressed sigh of relief that all personnel remained unharmed.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026