Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign against Taliban insurgents risks being undermined by public resentment, following the dismissal of the opposition-led administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
According to a statement issued by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office after an emergency cabinet meeting last Sunday, the decision to impose temporary federal rule was necessitated by the “provincial government’s deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”.
The KP provincial administration, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had refused to support intensified military operations against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, despite surging levels of violence over the last few years.
Instead, the KP provincial assembly has passed several resolutions questioning the efficacy of counterterrorism operations and threatening to block them, while the PTI-led administration rallied resistance by tribal elders in the most afflicted districts bordering Afghanistan.