- Wali accuses KP CM of ignoring narcotics factories.
- Drug proceeds allegedly funnelled into militancy operations: Wali.
- Smuggling routes remain active despite warnings: PM coordinator.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ikhtiar Wali on Sunday castigated Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, saying that no CM has the moral authority to stay in office when narcotics “are being manufactured in his own constituency.”
Addressing a press conference, Wali accused PTI members of involvement in the narcotics business and demanded an immediate crackdown in the Khyber district.
He said the provincial chief executive — who hails from the same region — has failed to act despite “drug factories openly operating in Tirah Valley.”
The PM’s coordinator warned that the proceeds of this illicit trade fund terrorism, fuel the production of ammunition and are smuggled across the country and beyond Pakistan’s borders. “This dirty money is used directly against the state,” he said.
Wali noted that he had earlier urged the chief minister to dismantle drug smuggling routes from the district, but “instead of action, CM Afridi denied the problem and even had his information minister hold a press conference claiming nothing was happening.”
The PM’s coordinator reiterated that the magnitude of narcotics activity in Khyber poses a grave national security threat and insisted that a chief minister whose constituency hosts such operations “should step down without delay.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan-nominated Afridi was elected as the new KP chief minister on October 8, replacing Ali Amin Gandapur.
Following the announcement, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar held a press conference along with Wali, saying that the move reflects the PTI’s soft corner for terrorists.
He claimed that the PTI has chosen someone who holds sympathies for extremists.
“The nation’s sacrifices will go in vain if such a person is made chief minister,” Tarar said, adding that the PTI founder Imran Khan, sitting in jail, is the chief sponsor of terrorists. He further alleged that Afridi faces multiple criminal cases and is a “criminal-minded individual”.
