Rana Sanaullah’s position on KP affairs, set out on Sunday, is support for the federal government’s decision to assume the role of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. The adviser to the prime minister on political affairs said deteriorating law and order, and alleged failures in tackling terrorism, had made that decision necessary. He spoke to a private television channel, and the Associated Press of Pakistan carried the remarks from Islamabad on 11 October.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a province with its own government, and the step he backed places the federal government in that government’s role. He told the channel this was required because peace, and the protection of lives and property, had to come before other work of the state.
Why he says security comes first
He said economic activity, employment, education and healthcare cannot flourish unless people are secure. The security concerns he cited are the reason he gave for backing the decision. Protecting citizens’ lives and property, he said, is the government’s foremost responsibility.
Where he places the blame
He accused elements inside the provincial government of falling short in their support for counterterrorism operations. He argued that, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led the province, weaknesses in the police, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the civil administration undermined efforts to make peace last. He said Islamabad had kept urging the provincial leadership to cooperate with the national counterterrorism policy and to treat national security as more important than political interests. Political interlocutors, he added, were urged to encourage that leadership to show an unequivocal commitment to the fight against terrorism.
What he says should happen next
Sanaullah said the immediate priority would be to improve the capacity of law-enforcement agencies and the civil administration, so areas cleared of militants could be managed and secured by civilian authorities. He said the federal government had remained willing to address the provincial leadership’s concerns, including issues related to meetings and other demands, through dialogue.
Talks in the preceding week
In the same comments on KP affairs, Rana Sanaullah said negotiations had taken place during the preceding week, but the provincial side subsequently withdrew from understandings reached during those discussions. He maintained that the government had made efforts until the last possible stage before taking the decision. The APP story, datelined Islamabad on 11 October, rests on his remarks to that private channel and does not include a response from the provincial leadership. According to that report, both the security argument and the account of those talks come from Sanaullah’s remarks on Sunday alone.
