War of words continues as govt, KP continue to trade blame over Tirah Valley situation

Friction between the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments over the Tirah Valley situation continued unabated on Wednesday as the former maintated that no operation was being carried out while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi stuck by his claims.

Thousands of families remain displaced from Tirah Valley in Khyber district as the K-P government oversees their relocation amid worsening security and heavy snowfall. According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, the evacuation began on January 10. So far, 11,400 families have been registered, with more than 10,000 relocated to safer areas, including Bara and Peshawar.

The displacement has also led to a clash of narratives between the federal and provincial governments. The federal government maintains that only small-scale, intelligence-based operations against militants are under way and that no mass evacuation is required. The provincial government rejects this claim.

Read: Thousands displaced from Tirah as security fears, snowfall slow evacuation

In a televised message today, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry maintained that no operation was being carried out in the region other than what was a part of the K-P-government-approved National Action Plan (NAP)

Referring to the K-P government, Talal said that “they keep taking the name of the army to hide their own performance, incompetence, incapacity and especially the corruption that took place in the Rs4 billion allocated for Tirah Valley.”

The minister asserted that the federal government or army were not mentioned in any document or notification. He said that as soon as people relocated from Tirah to other areas and Rs4 billion in payments were made, “it came to light that more than half the money had been kept by these very people for some other purpose. After that, in order to conceal it, they began constructing a baseless narrative that is completely detached from reality.”

He said if any action was ongoing across the country, it was under the NAP, which was formulated during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. “The K-P government is fully onboard in every action under NAP,” Talal added.

He said other provincial governments had proven they could fight terrorism and eliminate terrorists. “In K-P you could not do this because to create political narratives, to get votes, to hide corruption worth billions of rupees, to divert attention from your performance, you start creating a narrative based on lies — sometimes revolution, sometimes freedom, sometimes November 26, sometimes May 9.”

Talal said these slogans “neither change the common man’s life, nor provide health, education and peace to K-P’s people, nor is terrorism being eliminated”.

The minister cited the Kohistan scandal, saying that Rs14b were withdrawn from a truck driver’s account, and alleging that a similar scandal involving Rs4b occurred in Tirah Valley.

“There is no federal government involvement, no army, and no operation is taking place,” he asserted, adding that routine actions and intelligence-based operations (IBOs) under the NAP continued with the K-P government’s knowledge and cooperation.

“They are participating fully in these actions but to appear good in people’s eyes and to malign the army, lies are told,” he said. “Tell me, if the federation had an operation, who would issue the notification? If the army had to conduct an operation, have operations in Pakistan not been announced before?” the minister questioned.

He stated, “whenever any operation is to be carried out, it will be announced openly. There is no new operation of any kind, nor is any operation currently underway in Tirah Valley.”

K-P Governor Faisal Karim Kundi backed up the federal government’s stance, stating that the announcement for the Tirah operation was given by the K-P government and not by the federal government.

He said that the federal government issued a very clear statement yesterday that “we are not going to carry out any operation.”

The governor added that along with the leader of the opposition, “we will conduct aerial monitoring, and during this I will ask our federal agencies to also carry out monitoring.”

Referring to the people of Tirah, Kundi stated, “these are our citizens, these are our people, and God Willing, we stand with them with dignity, whether they give us a mandate or not. But we will not let K-P slip from our hands.”

He added, “we will not hand over these people to this party of chaos that only wants to spread hatred — against the federation, against other provinces.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry had also rejected the K-P chief minister’s remarks on the Tirah Valley operation, calling them “false, politically driven and misleading”.

In a post on X, he said using a serious national issue such as terrorism for political purposes was irresponsible and against the country’s interests.

He added that such issues required national unity, not political point scoring.

The minister said the steps being taken in Tirah Valley were not aimed at any person, political party or government.

He said the measures were necessary to restore peace, protect citizens and fully eliminate terrorism from the country.

Tirah situation forced many to spend freezing nights on roads: Afridi

Meanwhile, CM Afridi, during a visit to the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, said heavy snowfall had left people stranded in the Tirah Valley, forcing many to spend freezing nights on roads.

He questioned why the situation had worsened, blaming what he described as “behind closed doors” decisions to launch a military operation. He said a military operation was not a solution, adding that it was not only the PTI saying so, but that political and religious parties across K-P were also urging that a military operation would not resolve the issue.

Afridi called for what he described as a “permanent and consolidated solution”, saying all stakeholders must sit together and develop a comprehensive strategy.

He criticised decision-making by a small group, alleging that some people “sitting behind closed doors” believed they alone were wise enough to decide, and said poor advice had left Pakistan “stuck in a quagmire”.

The chief minister added that peace was essential to improve education and attract investment, but claimed there was a “mindset” preventing stability in the province. “With your help, I will defeat this mindset,” he said.

The chief minister also visited the Univeristy of Haripur to attend its fifth convocation ceremony.

The chief minister raised many of the same points as above in his address at the ceremony.

In a separate statement, Shafi Jan, the special aide to K-P CM for information, criticised Talal and accused him of spreading “disinformation” and running what he called a coordinated campaign against the provincial leader.

Jan said he and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar were a “product of Form 47” and should not lecture others on public politics.

Referring to the Tirah Valley issue, he said Talal’s press conferences and speeches in the National Assembly were on record. “How can they now claim politics is being done on Tirah?” he said.

Jan accused federal ministers of holding press conferences to spread lies and hide facts. He alleged that the government had played “dirty politics” over the evacuation from Tirah and accused it of taking conflicting positions on a possible operation.

“This is not a U-turn — it is an organised drama to mislead the public,” he said.

Jan claimed that Tarar had been put forward to spread “disinformation”, and alleged that Tarar and Chaudhry had jointly carried out “organised propaganda” against CM Afridi.

“The propaganda film run against Sohail Afridi has badly failed,” Jan said. “Those who make decisions behind closed doors are afraid to come out among the public,” he added.

K-P governor briefs acting president over Tirah 

Separately, Governor Kundi called on acting President Yousaf Raza Gilani at his residence and discussed the overall situation in K-P, including law and order, good governance and security challenges.

The governor briefed the Senate chairman on the displacement from Tirah Valley, informing him about relief and rehabilitation measures being undertaken for the affected families. He said that the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) was fully engaged in providing assistance to Tirah affectees.

Governor Kundi said that during heavy snowfall in Tirah, PRCS teams promptly delivered food items, medicines and other essential relief goods to people stranded in the area.

He added that relief assistance was also distributed among the displaced persons from Tirah in Bara tehsil, assuring them of continued support and cooperation.

Gilani expressed solidarity with the families displaced from Tirah Valley and acknowledged the sacrifices rendered by the people of Khyber and other merged districts for the country.

He paid tribute to the bravery and sacrifices of the people in the fight against terrorism.

The acting president said that sustainable peace in the province was vital for ushering in an era of development and prosperity, adding that the development and well-being of the people, including the merged districts, remained the government’s core mission.