A toxic political standoff in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi is supercharging terrorism dangers in Pakistan’s restive northwest. With militant strikes surging, this leadership breakdown signals peril for a region already reeling from violence.
Afridi ramped up Safe Cities, convening sessions to deploy cameras across flashpoints—711 in Peshawar, 88 in Dera Ismail Khan, 76 in Bannu, 47 in Lakki Marwat—with expansion eyed for Tank and other tribal pockets. The program promises robust monitoring, crime reduction, and empowered command posts, positioning it as a security linchpin.
Kundi fired back, labeling it political theater. At a media briefing, he ripped into Afridi for rally-hopping amid crumbling order, invoking daily assaults like Tank’s lethal IED on police and flares in Bannu-Dera Ismail Khan. He pressed for military escalation, CTD boosts, and equipped levies, flagging Afghan drone threats outright.
‘Put institutions first, not rallies,’ Kundi warned, lest divisions foster Taliban growth. Federal heavyweight Attaullah Tarar condemned Afridi’s Afghan jabs for validating terror tales and soft-pedaling TTP threats.
Sobering figures: 2024 logged 702 attacks killing 1,363—a sharp 45% increase—with 2025 adding 1,588 CTD files, 500+ hits, 510 on cops. Kills hit 420 terrorists, arrests 1,244, but Afghan-border blasts plague Bannu, Hangu, Peshawar.
Slamming PTI on services, Kundi sought alliance for calm. This feud, amid resurgent terror, imperils Pakistan’s fragile peace.