Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said cooperation between the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on tackling security challenges had improved in recent days after not having any cooperation “for a long time.”
“We did not have the KP government’s cooperation for a very long time. Now we have. They are standing firmly with the center and the armed forces against terrorism. There is no doubt,” he said on the floor of the National Assembly in response to a speech by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl)’s Noor Alam Khan. “It is a good thing that we are all on the same page,” he added.
In his speech, the JUIF leader had lashed out at both the KP government and Islamabad, blaming them for rising terrorism in the province. Over the past three days, there have been two major attacks in KP, the first in Bannu on May 10, claiming 15 lives, and the second in Lakki Marwat on May 12, claiming nine lives. The incidents have renewed calls for efforts to tackle mounting militancy.
During his address, Asif stressed that a solution to end terrorism was needed. Likening the interim Afghanistan government with India, he said there was no difference between the two. “Whether it is the eastern border or the western, the enemy is the same,” he said, lamenting that Islamabad wanted to reach an arrangement with Kabul to stop the terrorism. “But if they are not ready, then we will do to Kabul what we have done to Delhi,” he declared, referring to Marka-e-Haq, when the armed forces targeted India in retaliation to Delhi’s airstrikes within Pakistan.
The defense minister rebutted claims that Islamabad had not attempted to resolve the matter through dialogue with the Afghan Taliban. “We have done so. I did three rounds myself,” he said, noting he had visited Kabul in 2023 and had been part of two meetings in Turkiye and Qatar last year. Despite the third-party involvement, he said, no solution had been reached. Kabul, he said, is only willing to provide verbal assurances and does not want to give any guarantee that it would prevent attacks on Pakistan from Afghan soil.
“If they do not stop backing terrorists, then there will be war,” he warned, adding there “may be efforts underway for some communication through some third country.” However, he added, he could not offer any conclusive comment on it.