A combined photo of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi arrived at the Prime Minister House on Monday for a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, amid growing tensions between the federal and provincial governments over security and movement of people from the Tirah Valley.
Sources said the meeting would include an exchange of views on the security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with Afridi expected to brief the Prime Minister on concerns related to terrorism, Tirah operation and displacement of local residents. Political questions are also likely to be discussed.
The officials said the two sides could also take up the issue of the Centre’s unpaid dues to the province, as well as a possible protest planned by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on February 8, marking the anniversary of the 2024 general elections, which the opposition party claims was rigged.
A day earlier, Afridi announced plans to convene a major province-wide jirga and said he was preparing to launch a protest march to Islamabad against the alleged forced displacement of Tirah Valley residents and what he described as a federal “U-turn” on the issue.
Read: Afridi announces march on Islamabad because of Tirah
Addressing a jirga, he said the Prime Minister had invited him for talks on provincial rights, where he would present the case of the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa “with all his strength and determination”. Afridi said his visit was aimed at “pleading the case for KP’s rights and securing our unpaid dues”.
The meeting comes amid a growing standoff over who authorized the evacuation of Tirah, after hundreds of families were forced to leave their homes over fears of planned military action.
While authorities initially said the evacuations were carried out with the consent of all stakeholders, including local elders, the provincial government and the military, the issue became controversial after displaced families were left in frigid conditions in the open, with alleged mismanagement worsening their situation.
Learn more: KP CM opposes Operation Tirah, hints at sit-in in Islamabad
Earlier this week, the federal government said the movement of Tirah residents was part of a routine seasonal migration and denied any military operations in the valley.
Afridi rejected the claim, calling the official position a “joke” and saying the Center had changed its stand only after international media highlighted the “real sufferings of the people of the valley”.
