ISLAMABAD: PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has blamed the “negligence” of Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies for the rising incidents of terrorism in the country. In an interveiw with Voice of America English aired on Saturday (Feb 11), Imran spoke on the recent criticism surrounding the PTI government’s decision to negotiate with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) before it was ousted. He was responding to a question by the host, who asked him if he still “stands by” the decision to greenlight the talks.

“One of the reasons that terrorism has spiked in Pakistan is because, according to the National Counterterrorism Authority, the time that was taken for negotiations with TTP was used by that group to reorganise. Those talks started when you were in power. Do you stand by your decision to greenlight those talks,” correspondent Sarah Zaman asked. “Well, firstly, what were the choices [the] Pakistani government faced once the Taliban took over and they decided the TTP, and we’re talking about 30, [30,000] to 40,000 people, you know, the families included, once they decided to send them back to Pakistan? Should we have just lined them up and shot them, or should we have tried to work with them to resettle them,” Imran replied. He went on to say that his government had had a meeting at that time and the idea behind that was resettlement with the “concurrence of politicians all along the border”, the erstwhile FATA region, security forces and the TTP. “But that never happened because our government left and once our government was removed, the new government took its eye off the ball,” he said.

The former premier stated that it was possible for the TTP to regroup and then questioned: “But then where were the Pakistani security forces? Where were the intelligence agencies? Could they not see them regrouping? “How could we be held responsible for their negligence,” the PTI chief asked. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country has worsened, with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country. Since the talks with the TTP broke down in November, the militant group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalised a nexus with the outlawed TTP. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), January 223 remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, as 134 people lost their lives a 139 per cent spike and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 13 2023

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