PESHAWAR - PTI Chairman Imran Khan Monday demanded the federal government to send Frontier Constabulary (FC) back to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is the force responsible for guarding the border between FATA and the province.
“Actually, the FC has now been deployed in other parts of the country. We strongly demand repatriation of the FC. We have been making this demand since coming to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2013 but now we desperately need this force,” he said.
The PTI chief said of the 23,000 FC men, only 155 were deployed in Peshawar, the city that bore brunt of terrorism from Fata.
He was talking to journalists here after visiting the Army Public School and College, homes of martyred schoolchildren and teachers to pay them homage. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and members of the provincial cabinet and his party leaders also accompanied him.
He said the Centre had already been requested to recruit 5,000 IDPs in police for strengthening security in the IDP-hosting KP districts. “The KP has suffered bulk of terror attacks than the whole of the country,” he said, adding when the PTI formed coalition-led government, there were 170 attacks in KP as compared to 101 in rest of the country; therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen security here. Imran said he abandoned his sit-in and countrywide protests for strengthening the federation and fighting terrorism in the country.
Imran said police had no training to deal with terrorists. “The province is exposed to fallout effects of the military operation in Fata. KP also requires immediate financial help from the Centre to help two million IDPs,” he said.
“Basically, it is the responsibility of the federal government to support IDPs but the KP has been providing them facilities as they were in miserable condition,” he said. He said they did not foresee the immediate repatriation of IDPs and it will take at least one year, “so we need to establish temporary schools and extend them other facilities.”
He demanded blocking of illegal SIMs immediately and provision of equipment to track telephone calls and reach terrorists and kidnappers. “Illegal SIMs should be made an offence as it will make huge difference with regard to making security situation effective,” he said.
He said the government issues 500 visas to Afghans at the Torkham border everyday but an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people crossed the border. He said KP is home to 1.7 million Afghan refugees, who have overburdened the local people.
“The government in collaboration with the UN agencies should hammer out a strategy for their repatriation,” he said. “The whole nation is united against terrorism due to the pressure of sacrifices of our children. We have been telling since long that terrorism is No 1 problem being faced by the nation,” he said.
Moreover, he said KP police need intelligence support to limit illegal activities. The police force is in dire need of counter-terrorism intelligence. “The KP is frontline province, its police need system to intercept calls and gather intelligence,” he said.
He said the police personnel are not trained for counter terrorism.
“The government will evaluate security of schools and would make internal as well as external measures to ensure security,” he said, adding in this connection, the police had developed a system to share information through mobile phones.
Imran also expressed concern over the backwardness of Fata and said that there were no serious efforts to integrate it with the rest of the country. He said there should be brainstorming to seek ways and means to bring tribal population to mainstream. “Fata residents should be consulted on the FCR and reforms be brought to pave way for development of the people there,” he said. “The people in Fata are still being ruled under the British-made laws and no effort had ever been made for bringing them into mainstream politics,” he said.
On this occasion, Pervez Khattak said the Afghan refugees wanted to go back to their country but they need financial assistance and asked the international community for help in this regard. “The federal government should send back illegal refugees while the legal ones should be confined to camps,” he added.
Earlier, Imran Khan visited the Army Public School and homes of martyred children and teachers to pay them homage. He placed a bouquet and flower wreath at the main gate of the auditorium where most of the students and their teachers were killed.
The army officials briefed him about the heartbreaking terror incident. Parents present on the premises of the school talked to Imran Khan and demanded him to give exemplary punishment to attackers. The PTI chairman said this national tragedy was more catastrophic than 9/11.
Imran Khan also faced tough questions from the relatives of those killed in the terror attack. Angry parents accused PTI of neglecting its duties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in favour of months of protests in Islamabad aimed at bringing down the federal government.
Shahabuddin, the father of one student killed in the attack, told Imran Khan: “We had voted for you to bring about a change, but you gave us nothing but politics of dharna (sit-in protest).”