Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Hidayatullah Khan said on Friday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government could have requisitioned the military or Rangers if they were struggling to curb the return of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat.
Khan made the comments while speaking to The Friday Times — Naya Daur. Khan said Afghanistan’s Taliban government claimed Barrister Saif had been appointed the provincial government spokesperson in line with their wishes. His appointment then made little sense, he said. Khan said Saif had been rewarded for having participated in the Afghan Jihad.
A Swat explosion on Tuesday had left peace committee leader Idrees Khan and four others dead. The outlawed TTP had claimed responsibility for the attack. Swat DPO Zahid Marwat said Idrees was returning to his village when the attack happened.
The explosion is the first major incident of its kind in the region that witnessed a military operation in 2009. The military had succeeded in flushing out militants from the district with the assistance of local militias.
The TTP had, in a separate incident, abducted seven individuals the same day. Five of them were released later. Local journalists claimed a militant commander had warned people against collaborating with the government.
Fears of the TTP staging a comeback in the area, however, have been gaining traction of-late. An Islamabad-TTP ceasefire announced in June stood broken. Islamabad says it has witnessed an uptick in TTP attacks following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
