PESHAWAR: Treasury members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday complained about the “poor law and order situation, militant movement and drone strikes” within the territorial jurisdiction of the provincial capital.

“Today, a [suspected] drone strike took place in Peshawar’s Hassankhel subdivision, with Jamia Masjid being the target. Only a few days ago, a similar incident took place, raising serious questions about the security agencies’ [performance],” treasury MPA Shair Ali Afridi said during a session chaired by Deputy Speaker Suriyya Bibi here.

Afridi said that the subdivision bordered the main Nowshera and Kohat districts and not Afghanistan or Iran, so drone strikes left many residents injured.

He complained about the frequent imposition of curfews to the inconvenience of people, saying movement restrictions stop children from sitting exams.

Question performance of security agencies

The lawmaker also raised questions about the security situation in other parts of the province. He requested the chair to direct the relevant house committee to discuss the matter and make recommendations.

Another treasury member, Abdul Ghani, said that two resolutions were passed by the house against military operations in his Khyber tribal district.

He said that he and other lawmakers had long been pointing out the presence of militants in the region but senior security officials would always dismiss their concerns by insisting that there are only a few militants.

“Today, Tirah residents have left their homes due to the poor law and order situation. Their properties are being occupied, trees cut down and checkposts established,” he said.

Ghani said that those “few” militants had been moving around freely and recording videos on the main roads, making their presence in the area public.

He added that the militants had begun recording videos and checking people in the Akakhel area of Khyber district as well, causing fears about a potential law and order situation.

Member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi complained that funds were allocated for repairing power transformers in his constituency but 13 of those repaired didn’t belong to his area.

He said that authorities released Rs1 billion across the province for transformer repairs but no one explained the mechanism for the release of those funds.

Special assistant to the chief minister for information Shafi Jan informed the house that the matter was related to the federal government as it collected electricity bills, but even then, the provincial government paid the repair costs.

Treasury lawmaker Anwar Khan complained that most of the people in his constituency, who lived abroad for work, struggled to speak to their family members back home due to poor mobile network.

He said that his constituency was located near the Pak-Afghan border, so it became really difficult for residents to communicate in “critical situations”.

MPA Liaqat Khan complained that as the area had no coverage of towers of cellular networks, students couldn’t attend online classes.

The chair observed that people in her constituency also faced similar issues. She asked lawmakers to discuss the issue in a meeting scheduled for today (Tuesday).

Minority MPA Askar Parvez Khan said that a Christian graveyard in Thanda Maira area of Abbottabad district was under threat from land grabbers but authorities didn’t heed complaints of the Christian community.

He also said that a similar situation was reported in Peshawar and Kohat as well.

Aide to the CM Jan said that Thanda Maira graveyard was not notified by authorities, so it was not under the control of the Auqaf department. He, however, said that the department had written a letter to the district administration to look into the matter.

Jan said that a boundary wall would be constructed around the cemetery from the next annual development programme’s funds.

MPA Pir Musawwir complained that cheap electricity was produced by hydel projects in Malakand but even then, the federal government controlled power supply and closed feeders for hours.

He said that those not paying electricity bills should be arrested and nobody would support them. The house passed the KP University Amendment Bill, 2026, as reported by the house committee. The bill was tabled by minister for public health engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan.

The chair later put off the sitting until 2pm today (Tuesday).

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026