Islamabad, Pakistan: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, while addressing the media today, has leveled serious charges against intelligence agencies instead of accepting his failure to handle law and order in KP.
According to the 18th Amendment Law and Order is the responsibility of the province, and Gandapur’s government had categorically failed to address this issue, and terrorists are roaming around even in settled areas of KP, and the writ of the provincial government is almost eroded.
Since the federal government is thinking of handling the worst kind of lawlessness in KP through some federal arrangements, CM Gandapur is not ready to accept such arrangements and is threatening the federal government that he would not allow federal agencies to take control of the law and order situation in the province. Strangely, Gandapur claimed in his press talk that the federal government is not authorized to initiate talks with Afghanistan’s interim government, although Foreign Affairs is the foremost responsibility of the federal government under the constitution, and provinces cannot initiate talks with foreign countries without the prior permission of the federal government.
CM Gandapur, during his press conference, accused intelligence agencies of following “Good Taliban” and “Bad Taliban” policy, claiming that KP police arrested several terrorists who were Taliban, but intelligence agencies forced the provincial government to release them.
When asked to respond to accusations of Gandapur that are serious against the federation agencies, official circles, requesting their anonymity, stated that Law and order is provincial responsibility, but the criminal and corrupt mafia in KP is controlling the province, and CM Gandapur is trying to deflect from his bad governance and corruption. Government circles believe that no one is ready to buy Gandapur’s narrative, and the shelf life of his lies has expired.
A brief background of KP law and order governance indicates that the province has become a hub of corruption, terrorism, smuggling, and narco-drugs supplying under the alleged command of CM Ali Amin Gandapur. The recent Audit Report of the Auditor General indicates a gross corruption of 40 billion rupees during Gandapur’s tenure and his patronising of the most corrupt bureaucrats.
Another question is what the KPK police and CTD are doing, who are legally and administratively responsible for the Law and Order situation in the province.
Some senior journalists from Peshawar claim that Gandapur is harboring Afghan terrorists who are Indian proxies in Pakistan. “Why no action is being taken by the provincial government against illegal criminal Afghans and why illegal Afghans have yet not been deported from KP”, commented a senior journalist requesting anonymity. He further said that CM Gandapur, during his press conference, used language that fell in “Act of Treason,” but no action would be taken against him because PTI is still an uncontrollable entity. He stated that if the same language could have been used by any ANP, PPP, or PMLN chief minister, his government could have been ended through Governor’s Rule.
Related Story: The uncontrollable PTI and the State of Pakistan
When asked to comment on the Law and Order situation and the conduct of CM Gandapur, a journalist from Islamabad, while requesting anonymity, claimed that PTI and its leadership are beyond any law in Pakistan. “The founder of PTI, who is in jail (Imran Khan), is enjoying the facilities of a four-star hotel in jail, enjoying food of his choice, living in a room of 20X30 feet, and abusing the state every day, but nobody dares to impose the Jail Manual on him while PTI’s CM loudly refutes jurisdiction of Constitution but enjoys the power of a CM at the cost of public exchequre. PTI is a classical example of how a cult can force the state to accept its terms and conditions.”, commented the senior journalist.
