ISLAMABAD:
Amid a public dispute over “defective” bulletproof vehicles, Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday announced that the disputed vehicles would now be sent to Balochistan.
The move came following KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s criticism of Islamabad’s counter-terrorism policy and his claim that vehicles provided by the federal government were “old and defective”.
His comments provoked swift reactions from both the Home Ministry and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, highlighting renewed tensions between the Center and the provinces over security cooperation.
Balochistan CM Sarfraz Bugti waded into the controversy on Tuesday night and said that if KP rejected bulletproof vehicles, his province would gladly accept them to strengthen anti-terror efforts.
“It is an appeal to the Home Minister that if the KP government refuses to accept the bulletproof vehicles, they should be transferred to the Balochistan government so that terrorism can be countered effectively,” Bugti said in a post on social media platform X.
Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi responded to Bugti’s post and accepted the transfer.
“CM sahib, ready. These bulletproof vehicles will be sent to Balochistan immediately to enhance anti-terror efforts. Thank you for raising this,” Naqvi said on Wednesday morning, confirming that the vehicles rejected by KP would be redirected to Quetta.
Earlier, Minister of State for Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry had also weighed in on the dispute, criticizing Afridi for “playing politics” in relation to terrorism.
He expressed disappointment that “the fight against terrorism and the sacrifices made by soldiers were being overshadowed by politics”, alleging that the PTI-led government in KP was “choosing not to fight the war against terrorism so that it could be used to blackmail the government”.
