PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that if the opposition was willing to fight against terrorism and “we agree on a plan”, governor’s rule and emergency imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could end.

He made these remarks while speaking to the media in Karachi, where he was visiting the Karsaz Monument on the 19th anniversary of the Karsaz bombing.

His statement comes a week after the Centre imposed governor’s rule and emergency in KP, citing the provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement” from the fight against terrorism. The move also followed a mobilisation drive and protest march by the PTI, which was in power in KP and in opposition in the Centre, to demand the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan.

In his media talk, Bilawal said the country had reached a point where “terrorist attacks are taking place from Khyber to Khuzdar”.

He regretted that when the government changed in Kabul in 2021, the Pakistani government at that time “also decided to invite the terrorists who were in Afghanistan to come back and live in our Swat, our Malakand, our former tribal areas”. He was referring to ex-premier Imran Khan’s plans to resettle members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in the country.

Bilawal went on to say that terrorists who were in jail in Pakistan were also freed.

“Today, Pakistan is suffering the losses from these wrong decisions,” Bilawal said.

He added that the country had now once again reached the point where “some forces want to take down Pakistan’s flag from Swat” and there was a fight against terrorism ongoing across the entire country, while personnel of the army, police, and the public were being targeted.

However, he added, in the province where the highest number of terrorist incidents were taking place — KP — its chief minister had vowed that he would not face the terrorists.

“If the Pakhtunkhwa chief minister (Sohail Afridi) was a coward, if he was not ready to defend his homeland, if he was not ready to fight those terrorists — then the PPP is ready to fight them,” Bilawal said. “That is why we supported the government’s decision to impose governor rule in KP.”

He stressed that the party would “join forces with everyone to fight these terrorists” and would not allow anyone to think of removing the Pakistan flag from “even a single piece” of the country.

The PPP chairman also expressed his opinion that the greatest suffering was caused when terrorist incidents in the country were not taken seriously.

He said that the PPP had “readied all of society” to fight terrorism by creating an environment for counter-terrorism operations in 2008, when the party was in government. After this, he said, they had also taken a holistic approach to bring institutional changes to assist with combatting terrorism.

He emphasised that success was achieved when “every citizen” of Pakistan joined together to fight terrorism, saying, “Today as well, we will make efforts to create an environment where we are all united, and will fight the terrorists together.”

More to follow