War of words continues as government and KP continue to trade blame over situation in Tirah Valley

Friction between the federal and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments over the situation in the Tirah Valley continued unabated on Wednesday as the former claimed that no operation was taking place, while Chief Minister Sohail Afridi stood by his claims.

Thousands of families remain displaced from Tirah Valley in Khyber district as the KP 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, and more than 10,000 have been relocated to safer areas, including Bara and Peshawar.

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

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

In a televised address today, Minister of State for Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry maintained that no operations were being carried out in the region other than those that were part of the National Action Plan (NAP) approved by the KP government.

Referring to the KP government, Talal said they “continue to take the name of the army to hide their own performance, incompetence, inability and especially the corruption that took place in the Rs 4 billion allocated for the Tirah Valley.”

The minister stated that neither the federal government nor the army were mentioned in any document or notification. He said that as soon as people moved from Tirah to other areas and payments of Rs 4,000 million were made, “it came to light that more than half of the money had been kept by these same people for some other purpose. After that, to hide it, they started building a baseless narrative which is completely far from reality.”

He said if any action was being taken across the country, it was under the NAP, which was formulated during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. “The KP government fully agrees with all the actions of the PAN,” Talal added.

He said other provincial governments had shown they could fight terrorism and eliminate terrorists. “In KP you couldn’t 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 life of the common man, nor provide health, education and peace to the people of KP, nor eliminate terrorism.”

The minister cited the Kohistan scandal, saying that Rs 14 billion was withdrawn from a truck driver’s account and alleging that a similar scandal involving Rs 4 billion occurred in the Tirah Valley.

“There is no involvement of the federal government, there is no army and no operation is being carried out,” he stated, adding that routine actions and intelligence-based operations (IBOs) under the NAP continued with the knowledge and cooperation of the KP government.

“They fully participate in these actions, but to appear good in the eyes of the people and defame the army, they lie,” he said. “Tell me, if the federation had an operation, who would issue the notification? If the army had to carry out an operation, haven’t operations in Pakistan been announced before?” the minister questioned.

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

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi backed the federal government’s stance and stated that the announcement of the Tirah operation was made by the KP government and not the federal government.

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

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

Referring to the people of Tirah, Kundi said: “These are our citizens, these are our people, and God willing, we support them with dignity, whether they give us a mandate or not. But we will not let KP slip out of our hands.”

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

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry also rejected the KP Prime Minister’s statements on the Tirah Valley operation, calling them “false, politically motivated and misleading.”

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

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

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

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

The situation in Tirah forced many to spend freezing nights on the 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 the 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 just the PTI saying so, but political and religious parties across the KP were also urging that a military operation would not solve the problem.

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

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

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