PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Tuesday asked the provincial government to focus on the province instead of advocating the case of Afghanistan.
Addressing a press conference at the Governor’s House, he criticised Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi for demanding proof about Afghan soil being used against Pakistan and said that instead of demanding evidence from the Centre, Mr Afridi should better ask the same question from the KP police chief.
He said dialogue should not be held with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as it did not accept the Constitution and law of the land.
Urges Afridi to focus on capacity building of police, CTD
Mr Kundi said the province required peace and development and to make this happen, the provincial government, the opposition, the Centre and other stakeholders should sit together.
He said the provincial government instead of focusing on ‘divisive rhetoric’ and acting as ‘representatives of Afghanistan’ should focus on the province and talk to the Centre for development funds.
He said CM Afridi while sitting in Karachi was asking the Centre for evidence about Afghan soil being used against Pakistan. “I ask him to get briefing on this count from the KP police chief,” Mr Kundi said.
He said Afghan nationals were involved in attacks on Police Training College, Dera, Cadet College Wana and Frontier Constabulary Headquarters in Peshawar.
He said China, Tajikistan and Iran had also raised the issue of Afghan soil being used for terrorism. Besides, he said Pakistan had also stated that India and Israel were using Afghan soil for terrorism in Pakistan.
He said KP police were the best force in the country but they could not fight terrorism with ‘bare hands’.
He questioned how much of the one per cent of the divisible pool the province was getting for war on terror was spent on training, gadgets and other weaponry of the police department.
Mr Kundi asked the provincial government to do capacity building of the police and the Counter-Terrorism Department.
He questioned how many police stations and police lines were built in merged districts, and the Khasadar force, which was merged into the police, wasn’t trained to bring it on a par with the regular police.
Mr Kundi also criticised the federal government for failing to give a mega development project to the province over the past two years. He said the federal government needs to support the KP people.
He said the projects, including Chakdarra-Chitral Road, Chashma Lift Canal, N-55 Motorway from Dera to Kashmor were stuck in the slow lane.
“Federal government needs to make the people realise that it stands with them,” he said. Besides, he said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should also visit Peshawar and other parts of the province.
Mr Kundi said the Sindh government had not stopped the KP chief minister from any activity.
He said Pakistan Peoples Party leadership had trained its workers to give political space to other parties, but the PTI indulged in propaganda that it was stopped from carrying out political activities in Sindh.
Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2026