PESHAWAR: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Thursday said militants had decided to fight against the state and therefore, the state had no choice but to fight that war with wisdom and courage.

“This is their [militants’] own choice to become suicide bombers and assassins, so they don’t deserve sympathy,” Kakar said during a police darbar at the Governor’s House here.

The prime minister said the nation never forgot the 2014 massacre of children at Peshawar’s Army Public School, so militants had lost the “sympathy they used to enjoy 20 years ago.”

Mr Kakar said the state would fight against all those people, who subscribed to militant ideology.

He said the militants thought they’re doing a great job but they would run away from each other on the Day of Judgement.

Says state will fight against all those supporting militant ideology

The prime minister questioned if the war against militancy had concluded with the martyrdom of Frontier Constabulary commandant Safwat Ghayur in a suicide attack in 2010.

He said everyone remembered Ghayur but nobody remembered even a single of over 2,000 militants killed by security forces in the country.

Mr Kakar said the state had empowered the police under the law to act against anyone involved in armed struggle and that the state and the society stood by the police.

He said anyone, who had any objection to or disagreed with the law of the land — a global law rather — should go to some other place.

The prime minister said militants carried out “behind the back attacks and couldn’t fight face to face.”

He wondered if the state should surrender to militants.

“Let it be known to everybody that the state will respond one thousand times to their [militants’] 10 attacks,” he said.

Mr Kakar said sometimes, people warned him that he had just 20 days left in office, but he would keep speaking against militancy until his last breath and that, too, with more intensity and passion.

He said the state’s fight against militancy should be fought with wisdom and courage.

“You have won this war and what is left is its announcement. I don’t know [when this victory will be announced] but it will take some time to happen,” he told police officers and personnel.

The prime minister said the state was going to win the war against militancy for being on the right path.

“The Almighty Allah helps those who are on the right path,” he said.

Mr Kakar said the state would take the fight against militancy to its logical end.

He also announced the government would look into the demands and issues of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s police.

Earlier, provincial inspector general of police Akhtar Hayat Gandapur welcomed the prime minister to the event.

He said the provinces of KP and Balochistan had been at war against terrorism for decades.

Mr Gandapur said his province’s police were bravely fighting against terrorists by endangering their lives, and rendered great sacrifices in the fight.

“We [KP police] are committed to eliminating terrorism and other crimes,” he said.

The police chief requested the federal and provincial governments to provide his department with funds to equip its force with modern weapons and facilities.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2024