PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has backed his point with facts and figures to dismiss the impression of any confrontation between the Centre and the KP, adding, however, that attempts had been made to aggravate the situation through lies and propaganda. Addressing participants from KP at a national workshop, he said lies and propaganda on social media were poisoning the minds of the youth, to the extent that even the great sacrifices of martyrs were being insulted, echoing the language of the enemy across the border.
The Prime Minister delivered a wide-ranging speech focusing on terrorism, federal-provincial relations and national development, stressing that Pakistan’s real progress was impossible unless all four provinces advanced together. This vision augurs well for a peaceful and prosperous future of the country, therefore, there is a need to build consensus on the nature of Centre-Province relationship so as to avoid hiccups due to political differences. There is, of course, a perception that the federal and the provincial governments have a differing perspective on the ongoing war on terror due to the prevailing political situation in the country and vested interests of some politicians and political parties. Otherwise, the fact remains the Centre is fighting a war for the sake of a better future for people of KP, who are offering immense sacrifices due to the scourge of terrorism. Those taking lives of the innocent people, damaging public and private properties and carrying out attacks on law-enforcing agencies and state symbols cannot be considered well-wishers of the people or true followers of the religion that treats one murder as murder of the entire humanity.
The Centre and other provinces demonstrated their sincerity towards the cause of the people of KP by agreeing to a reduced share under the NFC to create a surplus to help fund the cost of the ongoing war on terror in the province. However, the PM has legitimately pointed out that during the last fifteen years, around Rs. 800 billion had been provided to the province to combat terrorism yet the level of development seen in other provinces was not visible in KP. In fact, this amount should have been utilized to strengthen the capacity of the province to take care of the issue of terrorism and other security challenges but instead the provincial government is not offering the required level of cooperation to the federal agencies to address the challenge. The government has also provided evidence to the world community about continued involvement of the Kabul regime in fanning the problem of terrorism in Pakistan but here again the provincial government has an uncanny stand. It is time the war on terror is given proper ownership by all concerned to produce desired results.
