Islamabad – Shafiullah Jan, special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, appeared to refuse to categorically label the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a “terrorist organization” in an interview with a national news anchor last week – drawing sharp criticism from opponents, activists and media commentators.

At a press appearance this week, federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar played a video clip in which Jan was asked whether the outlawed TTP is a terrorist group. Jan declined to give an unequivocal “yes,” saying “there are groups within the TTP and those who are against the state are terrorists.”

The federal minister seized on the remarks, accusing Jan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of soft-pedaling Pakistan’s insurgent threat and extended an “olive branch” to militants.

“The spokespersons of the political party are afraid of talking about the terrorist group,” Tarar said, claiming that PTI leaders fear being attacked by the TTP and therefore won’t condemn them outright.

The comments reignited long-standing debates in Pakistan about counterterrorism, messaging and political strategy — and drawn fire on social media from journalists and activists.

“Inexcusable behavior. You cannot complain or clutch pearls about being smeared as terror sympathizers when your own government’s spokesman can’t muster the bare bones clarity or spine to call the mass murdering butchers of TTP a terrorist group,” wrote activist Ammar Rashid on X.

Raza Haroon, a former provincial minister, wrote: “#PTI appears visibly confused and lacking clarity. Today, the party’s Secretary General, @salmanAraja, categorically acknowledged the #TTP as a terrorist organisation, ironically on the same show..”, adding, “This only exposes the party’s persistent policy incoherence and internal contradictions.”

Some commentators also mentioned older controversies around incarcerated former premier Imran Khan’s statements on militant figures.

In June 2020, Khan drew international and domestic rebuke when he used the Urdu word “shaheed” (martyr) to describe slain Osama bin Laden during a National Assembly speech – language critics said blurred the line between strategic critique of U.S. foreign policy and reverence for a globally designated terrorist.

Opposition leaders at the time said bin Laden was “a terrorist through and through,” pointing to the attacks he orchestrated at home and abroad, including against Pakistani citizens, and questioning the prime minister’s choice of words.

The TTP has been proscribed in Pakistan for years and is widely accused of orchestrating deadly attacks across the country, particularly in the north-west.

Against that backdrop, critics argue that any ambiguity in public rhetoric undermines counterterrorism efforts and emboldens extremist narratives.

Political rhetoric that fails to clearly denounce militant groups like the TTP is problematic because it dilutes public understanding of the threat the group poses and weakens a unified national response to ongoing violence, including numerous recent attacks the TTP has carried out in Pakistan.

Ambiguous language from political figures, especially when they avoid plainly calling an active militant group a terrorist organization, can create confusion among citizens about who is a threat and why, making it harder to sustain broad support for the hard security and legal measures needed to counter the challenge, especially given that there has been a resurgence of the TTP threat recently.

Analysts and security experts have noted that shifting or evasive narratives around the TTP have left the Pakistani public “poorly informed and confused about the nature of the threat,” and have at times emboldened the insurgents by suggesting there might be political space for negotiation without accountability, a distinction crucial for effective counterterrorism policy and public resilience.

This ambiguity also has real implications for national cohesion and counterterror strategy. When elected officials hedge on defining terrorism, it can erode confidence in government commitment to security policy, weaken cross-party cooperation on counterterrorism, and even be exploited by militants in their propaganda, which actively seeks to shape narratives in their favor.

Such rhetoric risks normalizing extremist violence in public discourse and undermines long-standing frameworks like Pakistan’s National Action Plan, which was built on broad consensus to crack down on terrorism and eliminate proscribed organizations.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

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These executions took place in sports stadiums across three different provinces. The total number of public executions since 2021 now stands at 10, per AFP.

In a statement, Amnesty International condemned the executions.

“The Taliban de facto authorities continue to flagrantly flout human rights principles with complete disregard for international human rights law. We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life,” it said.

“Carrying out executions in public adds to the inherent cruelty of the death penalty and can only have a dehumanizing effect on the victim and a brutalizing effect on those who witness the executions,” the statement added.

Amnesty International called on the international community to put pressure on the Taliban “to end this blatant human rights violation and help ensure that international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan.”

The executed individuals were “sentenced to retaliatory punishment” for allegedly shooting other men. The Afghan Supreme Court said their cases were “examined very precisely and repeatedly,” but human rights groups have raised concerns that trials under the Taliban are not fair.

“The families of the victims turned down the opportunity to offer the men amnesty,” per the Supreme Court.

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When Mohsin Dawar narrowly escaped an elaborate assassination attempt in which his vehicle was sprayed with more than 60 bullets about a month before the 2024 general elections, he saw no option but to slow down his campaign. He was seeking re-election to a National Assembly seat from his hometown of North Waziristan — a restive tribal district of Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is one of the areas in the country worst affected by Taliban militancy and the war on terror.

On the morning of Jan. 3, Dawar’s corner meetings planned in the village of Tappi, North Waziristan, had to be abruptly cancelled when his vehicle came under attack from around 15 assailants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He survived the attack because the vehicle was armoured, but the attackers — determined to get him — launched another attack as more militants joined in from across Waziristan.

As Dawar was whisked away to safety at a home in the village, his private security and the police guarding his convoy sought help from the Pakistan Army to fight the attackers. But they received no response or assistance. Despite this, they continued to engage the militants and were able to drive them away after 45 minutes of violent clashes involving live ammunition and heavy weapons. 

“It was a miracle I survived that attack,” Dawar told Dissent Today in a phone interview, saying that his supporters, people from his tribe, and the police were on their own against the militants, with no assistance from the military. After this near-death experience, he had to end his participation in campaign events due to security concerns, relying on his party colleagues and supporters to convey his campaign message.

Dawar, who heads the progressive National Democratic Movement (NDM) that he founded in 2021 along with a group of secular Pashtun politicians, has been vocal against the resurgence of Taliban terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during his time in the National Assembly from 2018 to 2023. During an in-camera meeting of the parliament’s National Security Committee held in 2022 to discuss the rise in terrorism in the province, Dawar was reportedly the only member to challenge then-Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Faiz Hameed about the military’s decision to negotiate with the Taliban.

Even before he began his 2024 election campaign, he heard threats and warnings that the Taliban wanted to target him. Following the attack in Waziristan, personnel from the security agencies warned him that this time the militants had sent a suicide bomber who was roaming around his chamber in the town of Miranshah, disguised as one of his many guests and waiting to hug him.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has a bloody history of election violence, with candidates and representatives of secular parties being attacked by militants in the lead up to the polls. Like a number of other anti-Taliban candidates in the province, Dawar had to go to the polls amid this wave of fear, but he and his followers remained determined not to end the campaign.

The former lawmaker could not stay in one city for more than three days and would travel from Waziristan to Peshawar to Islamabad and back, just to thwart another potential assassination attempt. “Due to this, there was virtually no election campaign,” Dawar said, adding that his supporters remained on the ground, but it was hard for the party to counter the opponents’ narrative because of his absence from campaign activities.

These threats, however, were not the only hurdle in their way. Just weeks before the elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) altered the electoral scheme in Waziristan, moving 56 polling stations from areas that Dawar believed were his strongholds to less accessible locations. The changes were made at the request of the Islamist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), one of Dawar’s main opponents, whose candidate would later be declared the winner in this constituency. 

Most of these polling stations were moved to properties owned by or in use by members or leaders of the JUI-F, which Dawar and his supporters feared could be used as leverage against them.

The JUI-F’s request to change these polling stations was initially rejected, but the election officials overseeing the process later accepted the demand abruptly. Dawar says his sources in the civil administration informed him that the relevant officials had to approve the application after being pressured to do so by military officials.

The NDM wrote applications to the district returning officer and the ECP, expressing concerns over this change, but received no response.

Despite this series of setbacks, the newly formed NDM had fielded 17 candidates for national and provincial assembly seats and was eager to navigate its first general election. Dawar said the party had conducted multiple training sessions for its polling agents to thwart rigging attempts. “We considered every scenario [of electoral rigging] and trained our polling agents accordingly.”

But Election Day on Feb. 8 arrived with yet another act of terror: a suicide attack targeting NDM’s three female polling agents in the same village where Dawar had earlier survived an assassination attempt. Although the women were not physically injured, the trauma left them unconscious, forcing them to abandon their duties. 

Dawar later heard reports that the Taliban had taken over some polling stations in the village. “We wrote to the ECP about this attack on our polling agents and the militants taking control of the polling stations, but we did not hear back,” he said. 

As unofficial election results began to emerge, reports surfaced that a Returning Officer (RO) — the main official responsible for consolidating results — was tampering with votes in the constituency and increasing the JUI-F’s count. Dawar went to the RO’s office located in the Miranshah cantonment area and confronted him with information he had received about the tampering. “The RO denied altering the results. But he later disappeared, and we could not find him all day,” Dawar says. The RO’s mysterious disappearance led to unusual delays in the counting process.

Dawar and other candidates stayed the night at the building, waiting to receive an update. On the night of Feb. 9, they were informed that the pending results from the Mir Ali district wouldn’t be received until the next day. Since the counting was delayed until then, candidates were asked to leave the office and return the following morning. At the time they left the RO’s office that night, Dawar was leading by more than 5,000 votes.

But they woke up next morning to a hurriedly issued notification from the ECP for the provincial assembly seat of PK-103, where a candidate who had been trailing by a significant number of votes since the voting day, was declared the winner.

“That’s when we realized they were completely distorting the results,” Dawar says.

Two days before the election, Dawar had issued a video message predicting that election officers may change the final results on Form 45, a crucial document used in Pakistan’s post-electoral process, which discloses the outcomes of the voting procedure at a particular polling place.

“That’s exactly what they later did to us and many other candidates across Pakistan,” he says.

When Dawar and his supporters arrived at the RO’s office in Cantonment area once again that morning, they were stopped at the gate, which was sealed by security forces. 

According to Pakistan’s election laws, candidates and their polling agents are entitled to be present at the location where votes are being counted and gathered. But no candidates were being allowed to enter the premises, in violation of the law.

After being denied entry, Dawar and his supporters began a protest outside the building, demanding access to the RO’s office. “Our concern was that our mandate was being stolen inside,” Dawar said.

As the protesters marched toward the RO’s office, chanting slogans, security forces stationed at the gate suddenly opened fire on them. Dawar was the first to be hit, receiving two bullets in his right leg. Three of his supporters died on the spot from the gunfire, while another succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. 15 other protestors were injured. 

Dawar was rushed to a nearby hospital in Waziristan. As he received treatment for his bullet wounds at the hospital, a candidate from the JUI-F was announced the winner from the constituency. 

Pakistan’s mainstream media conducted marathon transmissions covering the elections, but this incident of election violence targeting a former parliamentarian barely registered in the mainstream media. On the contrary, sections of the media reported it as an attack on the Pakistani military, airing misleading claims from government officials that Dawar’s supporters had attacked security forces and injured policemen.

Miranshah district administration officials had claimed at the time that Dawar’s supporters tried to force their way into the building and injured policemen in the process. However, according to two Waziristan-based reporters Dissent Today spoke to, the local police denied that their personnel were killed or injured in the incident, disputing the official version that held the protesters responsible.

Then-interim Prime Minister Anwaar Kakar repeated these accusations during a media briefing, and most media outlets reported the questionable official version, which cleared the security forces of responsibility for opening fire at the protest.

“I did not expect them to shoot,” Dawar said, adding that he wouldn’t have staged a protest and endangered his supporters’ lives if he had known the security forces would open fire on them.

Three of the men killed in the gunfire were under 30 years of age, while one was in his late 40s.

After initial treatment in Waziristan, Dawar was moved to a hospital in Peshawar for better medical care, where he remained under treatment for four days. During this time, no mainstream politician — including those who were once his allies in the Pakistan Democratic Movement — reached out to him to inquire about his health. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who called him to ask for details about the incident, was the only exception.

A year after this incident, no FIR has been registered for the killing of the four protesters, as authorities rejected Dawar’s application for a case and registered a counter FIR against him and his supporters in response. Their complaint before the election tribunal regarding alleged rigging in the constituency has not been heard either and continues to face delays.

Dawar says he had expected to face hurdles during the election but had not anticipated that the establishment would go to such lengths to keep him away from Parliament. 

His sources among security agencies often tell him that the main reason he is unacceptable to the powers that be is his stance against the Taliban. “Many political forces in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chose to accept the Taliban as a reality after they gained ground in the province,” Dawar says, but adds that his party will never accept the militant group’s presence in the region.

“We are not willing to compromise on any part of our narrative,” he says.

• Additional reporting by Rai Bhittani in North Waziristan.

Ailia Zehra

The writer is a journalist and the Founding Editor of Dissent Today. She covers politics, human rights, and religious extremism. She tweets at @AiliaZehra.

The post A Year After Elections, Ex-Waziristan Parliamentarian Unable to Find Justice for Fallen Comrades appeared first on Dissent Today.

The assailants were reportedly armed with both light and heavy weaponry. The attack took place late Wednesday night.

According to police reports, they took the four officers hostage and moved them to an undisclosed location.

Authorities have confirmed that four officers are currently unaccounted for and stated that an investigation has been initiated regarding the incident.

The missing officers have been identified as Akbar, Jan Mohammad, Sultan, and Naseeb.

Security forces have launched a search operation in the area to find the missing officers and apprehend those responsible for the attack.

Local residents have been increasingly troubled by the deteriorating security conditions in Waziristan over the past year. This incident has led to a new wave of fear in the restive South Waziristan districts.

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Sajid Turi, an erstwhile member of the National Assembly from Parachinar, told Dissent Today that many individuals involved in the violence did not sign the agreement. “I have no confidence in this agreement,” he said, adding that the provincial government showed little interest in developing a durable solution to the conflict.

Violent clashes between tribes stemming from longstanding land disputes have claimed at least 130 lives since November. According to sources, the actual death toll may be higher than reported, as several targeted attacks have claimed lives since the start of the conflict. 

The area has also witnessed a humanitarian crisis, with more than 100 children dying due to a shortage of food and medical supplies amid a blockade of the road that connects Parachinar to the rest of the country.

Following the agreement, the highway is expected to open soon, and the first convoy of food and medical supplies since the peace deal would be sent to the area by the Parachinar Trade Union. The provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan, along with the Red Crescent Society of Pakistan, also contributed humanitarian aid for the first convoy.

Turi, who is the Vice President of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, states that similar agreements between tribes have been made in the past, but they only provided temporary respite from clashes and failed to ensure lasting peace.

‘Taliban involved in Parachinar violence’

While the crisis in Parachinar was largely perceived as a sectarian issue between the Shia and Sunni communities in the area, Turi argues that there is more than meets the eye. “The Taliban and the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-KP) are active in the area,” he said, adding that militants from these groups have been exploiting sectarian differences by pressuring Sunni community leaders to side with them.

“Taliban militants have prevented Sunni representatives from signing peace agreements on numerous occasions because they want the clashes to continue,” Turi says. He further claimed that militants from the Islamic State and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have an active presence in Lower Kurram, extending up to the Alizai town.

According to a recent report by an Islamabad-based think tank, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa recorded the highest number of terrorist attacks in the country in 2024, with 295 attacks. Attacks carried out by the TTP killed about 300 people during the year.

Attacks by ISIS-K that employ roadside bomb tactics have also increased in the province in recent months. In August, the group claimed responsibility for at least two attacks on Pakistan military personnel in the Khyber and Bajaur districts.

Turi says the authorities are trying to cover up the involvement of the Taliban and Islamic State in the violence in Kurram by presenting it solely as a sectarian issue. “Because Parachinar is a Shia-majority area, it is easy for them to portray the issue as a sectarian one and conceal the involvement of the Taliban,” he says.

On Tuesday, a Christian man who was mistaken for a Shia was beheaded by anti-Shia extremists in Kurram, with graphic images of his severed head circulating on social media. Turi says that the manner in which he was killed makes it clear that either the Taliban or the Islamic State was behind the incident.

In response to a question, Turi said that Parachinar and Kurram need a permanent solution to the issue, which requires the state to establish its authority in the region. “We urge the Pakistan Army to take action against the militants who have taken over our area,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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In the letter, Farida Shaheed, special rapporteur on the right to education; Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; and Laura Nyirinkindi, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, called on the government of Pakistan to protect the fundamental right of women and girls to receive a safe and secure education.

“We are troubled by the persistent terrorist attacks targeting girls’ schools by groups opposing the education of women and girls. While all attacks on schools are reprehensible, those specifically aimed at girls’ institutions discourage women and girls from pursuing education, thereby reinforcing discrimination and societal inequalities,” the letter read.

Further, they requested information from the government regarding the investigations and actions being taken to safeguard girls’ schools in Waziristan.

The experts highlighted incidents involving unidentified armed individuals using explosives to target private girls’ schools in North and South Waziristan. A similar incident took place in Surab district of the Kalat division in Balochistan. They noted that the overall enrollment rate for girls in schools is generally lower than that of boys, with the situation being particularly bleak in rural regions.

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On June 24, Manmohan Singh, a 35-year-old shop owner, was killed by an unidentified assailant in Peshawar while heading home from work in a rickshaw. This was the third incident of targeted killing of Sikhs in Peshawar this year, following the murder of the 40-year-old shopkeeper, Dyal Singh, in April. 

Dyal is survived by four children. According to his brother, Kaim Singh, during the month of Ramadan, Dyal would sell items at affordable prices at his shop. 

In another terror incident in July, Sardar Amir Chohan Singh narrowly survived an attack on Kohat Road in Peshawar. Singh was on his way to work when he encountered two individuals riding a motorcycle. The attackers had concealed their faces with masks and were carrying weapons with the intention of targeting Singh for a potential assassination. Singh was able to avoid the situation and safely returned home. An FIR was registered into this incident at the Rehman Baba Police Station, but the police have made no arrests so far. Tarlok Singh, the owner of a grocery store, survived a similar attack in June. 

In May 2022, two other shopkeepers, Ranjit Singh and Kuljit Singh, were shot dead at their shops in Bata Tal Chowk in Peshawar. 

Savinder Singh, the owner of a cosmetic shop in Saddar, Peshawar, received a threatening letter in July of this year that contained the message: “Next: “Next target soon. Wait for your turn. InshaAllah and Allahu Akbar”

Gurpal Singh, a Sikh activist and community leader, told Dissent Today that after the killing of Dyal Singh in April, approximately 159 families have left Peshawar for Punjab, with 80 children obtaining leave certificates from various schools in the city. He added that it is the Sikh men working as shopkeepers who are mostly being targeted in Peshawar. “The City of flowers”, he said, has now become “the city of blood”.’ Singh called on Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to take suo motu notice of such incidents. 

The caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan had announced an amount of PKR 3,00,000 ($980) to the families of Tarlok who was injured in an attack, and compensation of PKR 10,00000 (about $3,267) for the family of the slain Manmohan Singh. However, activist Gurpaal Singh revealed that the cheques were never given to the families, referring to them as ‘dummy cheques.’ The families have written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar regarding the order, but they are still struggling to receive the financial compensation. 

Sikhs leaving Pakistan – a country where they once found safety 

According to Gurpaal Singh, there are approximately 15,000 Sikhs left in Pakistan. Despite their small numbers, the Sikh community holds significant historical and cultural importance in the country.

Due to regional instability, many Sikhs in Afghanistan migrated to Pakistan, India, and other foreign countries in the 1990s. The population decrease in the region was primarily due to various conflicts, such as the Afghan war and civil wars of 1992, resulting in a significant Sikh diaspora, particularly from Kabul and Jalalabad. The population, which was between 200,000 and 500,000 in 1970, had dropped to around 700 in 2020, according to a Sikh businessman.

Prior to the partition of the Indian subcontinent, an estimated 2 million Sikhs lived in Pakistan, mainly in the Punjab region. However, their population has drastically declined to only a few thousand since 1947.

The migration of Afghan Sikhs to Pakistan was due to various reasons, including a lack of security, incidents such as the burning of gurdwaras, suicide bombings, the imposition of jizya tax, and the Taliban’s ban on cremation customs.

Prior to the partition of the Indian subcontinent, an estimated 2 million Sikhs lived in Pakistan, mainly in the Punjab region. However, their population has drastically declined to only a few thousand since 1947. According to Singh, roughly 7,000 Sikhs currently reside in Punjab, with a concentration in Nankana Sahib and Lahore. Additionally, approximately 6,000 Sikhs live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

‘Militant group behind attacks against minorities’

Meanwhile, a police source told Dissent Today on the condition of anonymity that an investigation into the recent cases of targeted killing of the community was ongoing, which is why details regarding handlers and cells cannot be disclosed. The source indicated that there is ‘one militant group’ responsible for all cases of targeted killings of religious minorities in Peshawar this year.

According to a police source, a total of nine people were targeted, including three Muslim religious leaders, two Sikhs (one of whom survived the attack but was injured), one Shia, and two Christians. The police source further stated that the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), a.k.a. Daesh, has claimed responsibility for the targeted attacks. According to another police source, a 30-bore weapon was used in the recent killings, and there is a resemblance among weapons used in different attacks.

When asked about the upsurge in targeted killings in Peshawar, the police source attributed it to the influx of people migrating from Afghanistan to Pakistan due to the policies of the Afghan Taliban who have been ruling the country since 2021. In response to these attacks, the police claimed to have provided security to minority communities, installing security checkpoints at undisclosed hotspots after the killing of Manmohan Singh.

Radesh Singh Tony, a human rights activist, and Chairman of the Minority Rights Forum, stated that the Sikh community was being targeted not just in Peshawar but other parts of the country as well. Tony stated that these targeted killings began in 2013, starting with extortion and kidnapping incidents.

He said the first person to be killed in such targeted attacks was Bhagwan Singh in 2013 in Charsadda. In 2016, Dr. Soran Singh, the provincial minister for minority affairs, was also killed, he added. 

Criticizing the government, Tony, who once contested an election from Peshawar’s PK-75 constituency, questioned why they failed to trace the threatening calls and nab the culprits before the killings. According to the activist, the Sikh community is an easy target because they are recognizable due to their turbans and beards. 

Hate speech through loudspeakers 

Tony also stated that clerics in mosques practice hate speeches against minorities through loudspeakers, which is a reason for this rise in targeted killing of the Sikh community in the city.

Tony proposed that community policing should be introduced in bazaars by the government or police to easily identify terrorists, as the province lacks a dependable CCTV footage system. Despite victims reporting extortion calls, the police have not responded. 

“The biggest evidence of failure is that no one has ever been brought to justice for these crimes against the community,” he said.

However, a police source claimed that Police Liaison Committees already function as community policing. Another police source, addressing the absence of adequate CCTV cameras in bazaars, stated that they are working on the matter from multiple angles. The police also revealed that they have deployed a special force group for this purpose.

Shaeran Rufus

The writer is a Karachi-based journalist passionate about human rights, social issues, and minority advocacy. She tweets at @ShaeranRufus

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Six-year-old Aisha was killed and seven others, including a teacher and female students, sustained injuries after a police officer, identified as Alam Khan, posted outside Sangota Public School in Swat opened fire on a school van.

The injured include Areesha Abid, 6, Eshaal Abbas, 6, Naheed Wazir Khan, 35, Wajiha Ayub, 16, Roma Zahoor, 11, Horain Wajid, 8, and Maryam Shaukat.

According to witnesses, the constable opened indiscriminate fire at a van and tried to reload his weapon when the magazine emptied to do more damage, negating police’s claim that he opened fire by mistake. While reloading his weapon, the police constable was grabbed by people, and was then arrested by the police under Sections 427, 320, 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Aaj News reported.

Aisha’s uncle also told the media outlet that the police officer had links with the Taliban.

Constable Alam Khan was suspended from duty once for not showing up for work. The administration of Sangota Public School, where the policeman was posted, had also requested him to be removed from duty a month ago because they felt he was not fit for the work.

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The Khorasan Diary shared a statement released by Sarbahkaf Mohmand, a key commander and shadow governor of TTP for Zhob, Balochistan.

In the statement, the Taliban leader congratulated the PTI protesters for attacking military installations and assured them of the militant group’s support.

TKD MONITORING: Sarbahkaf Mohmand, a key commander and shadow governor of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for Zhob, Balochistan in a statement, has endorsed the countrywide protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and directed TTP militants to target military installations in… pic.twitter.com/WQqjJiFPmL

— The Khorasan Diary (@khorasandiary) May 11, 2023

Following the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan, the party supporters attacked military installations, as well as damaged public and private properties.

The protesters stormed Corps Commander Lahore’s residence, setting fire to the furniture and ransacking it.

The protesters also attacked the armed forces headquarters in Rawalpindi. During the nationwide protests that erupted on Tuesday, at least 9 people have died.

The provincial governments also requested the army’s assistance to maintain a “law and order” situation across the country. PTI chief’s arrest was declared illegal by the Supreme Court on Thursday and a day later he was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court.

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ANP filed the petition through advocates Babar Khan Yousafzai and Khizar Hayat Khazana.

The petitioner also made other officials of Imran Khan-led government, including former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mahmood Khan, and former special assistant to chief minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, respondents.

The ANP provincial president also requested the court to form a committee to investigate the alleged resettlement of militants in Pakistan. The results of the probe committee should be made public, he said.

He said the government had made considerable progress in eliminating terrorism from the country. However, after Imran Khan came to power, he constantly made statements regarding the resettlement of trained militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

The petition added the resettlement could not have been made possible without the involvement of the former ISI chief.

Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence of terrorism with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) targeting security officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

TTP is supported by the Taliban-led Afghan government.

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