PM ought to be in Pakistan, says Imran

Operation ‘Raddul Fasaad’

Wants Fata merged into KP; blasts ‘harassment’ of Pakhtuns in Punjab

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said here Thursday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should have postponed his foreign visit in order to announce operation ‘Raddul Fasaad’ against militants as his presence was a must in the country at such a critical time.

Speaking at Meet-the-Press Programme of the Peshawar Press Club, he said the civil and military leadership must unite against terrorists. "The prime minister should also have taken the chief ministers of all the provinces into confidence before launching any operation against militants," he stressed.

The PTI chief lauded the crackdown against militants inPunjab, though he said it should have been launched soon after all the political parties had agreed on the National Action Plan (NAP).

He opposed giving a free hand to the private militias, non-state actors and certain armed groups in Pakistan until the recent past and said the present government had failed to fully implement the National Action Plan. Imran Khan opined that the delay in the implementation of reforms in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and its merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could again push the tribal areas into the clutches of militants.

He slammed the Punjab government for harassing and humiliating innocent Pakhtuns in parts of the province under the garb of drive against militants. Flanked by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and provincial ministers, Imran Khan said that after the successful Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan Agency the wave of terrorism had been reduced in the country but the terrorists again managed to intensify their activities due to poor and inefficient leadership.

“Unfortunately the National Action Plan was not fully implemented despite the fact that all political parties had endorsed and backed it,” he said. He added that like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa all the provinces should have made reforms in the police system as the police were playing the leading role in the fight against militancy.

Imran Khan also blamed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team for the country's flawed foreign policy, particularly for the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. About the proposed Fata reforms, he said that the demand of separate province for the people of tribal areas was not a viable option at the movement. "The only option right now is the merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he argued.

“These reforms should not be delayed further as the whole system of Fata including social, traditional and administrative had been destroyed in recent years,” he said. He added that holding of local bodies’ elections in the tribal areas was fundamental and constitutional right of the tribespeople.

The PTI chief lauded the role of Supreme Court in the Panama Leaks case and said that for the first time a prime minister was questioned and investigated in corruption cases. “At least the chief executive of the country must be ‘Sadiq’ and ‘Ameen’ and the PTI’s struggle was not against an individual but corrupt system and corrupt people,” he said. "The country would soon be cleansed of corrupt politicians and people," he declared.