Tarar Accuses KP Govt of Helping Terrorists After DI Khan Blast

Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government of helping terrorists to protect its own political and financial interests. Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad on September 28, he called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership in the province the "B team" of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Tarar sat alongside Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry. Their press conference came just two days after a deadly suicide attack on a checkpost in Dera Ismail Khan. The PTI quickly rejected the charges.

The Attack That Started the War of Words

On Saturday, September 26, an attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the Aman Mela checkpost in the Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan. The post is used by police and customs staff and sits on the DI Khan to Quetta road, close to the border between KP and Balochistan. Police said at least 12 people were killed and about 35 were injured. Customs officials and ordinary passersby, including women and a child, were among the dead.

The violence did not end there. A Rescue 1122 ambulance carrying victims to hospital later came under fire, and two rescue workers lost their lives. Dawn newspaper put the total death toll at 14. According to The Express Tribune, the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both condemned it.

Only a week earlier, 23 people, including 15 police officers, were killed in a blast at a mosque inside the Kohat Police Lines during Friday prayers.

Tarar's Charges Against the KP Government

At the press conference, Tarar said the KP government had two interests, one political and one financial. He claimed the provincial leaders cared more about money made from illegal mining and government contracts than about the lives being lost. The PTI has rejected these allegations.

"You facilitate terrorists because of your political and financial interests," Tarar said. He asked the provincial government to say clearly that it would wipe out terrorists from Pakistan and from KP. He added that if the province truly cared, its leaders would have held law and order meetings in Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan after the attacks.

The minister said KP was "burning in the fire of terrorism" while its leaders focused only on getting one prisoner out of jail. This was a clear reference to jailed PTI founder Imran Khan. Tarar also accused Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of failing both as an administrator and as a politician.

Tarar praised Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti as "brave and capable" in fighting terrorists. In contrast, he claimed the KP government was spending money on sit-ins instead of on the police.

Talal Chaudhry Points at Afghanistan

Talal Chaudhry focused mostly on Afghanistan. He asked why the PTI kept a "soft attitude" towards the neighbouring country and why its leaders did not openly name Afghanistan when attacks came from there. He noted that Chief Minister Afridi held a long press conference in Dera Ismail Khan after the blast but did not condemn Kabul.

The minister said investigators had checked a picture of one of the suspected attackers against NADRA and other records, but found no match. Using open source information, they later found a photo of the same man at Pakhtunistan Square in Kabul. Chaudhry presented this as proof of an Afghan link. This finding has not been independently confirmed.

Chaudhry claimed that Afghan nationals made up about 70% of the people involved in terrorist activity in Pakistan over the last two and a half to three years. Speaking about the attack on the ambulance, he asked, "Is this Jihad?" He said even enemies with some principles do not target rescue workers, and described Afghanistan as a super proxy working against Pakistan.

A Fight Over Police, Money and Meetings

Chaudhry said political leaders give three things to a war against terrorism: leadership, resources and authority. He argued that the KP government had failed on all three. He said the province's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) still lacks bulletproof jackets, vehicles, training, forensic labs and a Safe City camera network, and that its staff still live in rented homes.

He also criticised changes to the provincial Police Act, saying they had weakened the force. Under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, KP gets an extra 1% share of federal revenue to fight terrorism. Chaudhry put KP's NFC money at around Rs800 billion and asked why it was not spent on the police. Tarar added that the federal government had offered modern vehicles to KP police, but the offer was turned down.

Chaudhry also rejected the complaint that the Centre keeps KP out of security policy. He said provincial officials did not attend national security meetings even after being invited.

PTI and Afridi Hit Back

The PTI responded through a statement from its Central Media Department on X. It said the people of KP stand on the front line against terrorism and that the party will never forget its martyrs. The party told Tarar to first look at the performance of the federal and Punjab governments before lecturing the people of KP.

The statement asked on what basis the whole provincial government was being called a helper of terrorists. It recalled that PTI's provincial law minister, Israrullah Gandapur, was killed in a suicide attack at his home in Dera Ismail Khan on October 16, 2013, along with at least seven other people. The party said KP needs cooperation, not accusations.

A day before the ministers spoke, Chief Minister Afridi visited the wounded in Dera Ismail Khan with former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur. He asked the federal government to give armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to the province without delay. Afridi said his government gave an extra Rs35 billion to KP police in the last financial year and had paid federal agencies for modern weapons and APCs that have still not been delivered. He also asked that KP be included in decisions on counterterrorism policy.

What This Means for Pakistan

The two governments are telling very different stories. Islamabad says KP is not using its money and power against militants, while Peshawar says the Centre is holding back equipment. Many of these claims, including the ones about vehicles and funds, have not been independently checked.

For ordinary families in KP, the political fight offers little comfort. Police, customs staff, rescue workers and civilians keep dying, from Kohat to Darazinda. The National Action Plan, first agreed by all major parties after the 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar, was built on the idea that the Centre and the provinces must work as one team.

The row also adds to tension with Afghanistan. Pakistan has long accused Kabul of letting the TTP and other groups use Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies. With attacks rising and both governments trading blame, the big question for many Pakistanis is simple: can their leaders put politics aside long enough to keep people safe?