SWABI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser condemned Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s statement about facing a threat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa instead of India and called it irresponsible.

Addressing a gathering here on Sunday, he said that the father of Maryam Nawaz was prime minister of the country when KP was pushed into the quagmire of war against terrorism. “Her uncle is prime minister today and his government has once again turned the region and the province into a battlefield,” he alleged.

He said that Gen Ziaul Haq declared jihad in the region and introduced Kalashnikov culture, which subsequently fuelled violence and bloodshed across KP. He said that people of KP rendered sacrifices in the war against terrorism, but authorities humiliated them instead of respecting their sacrifices.

Mr Qaiser said that flawed policies created conditions that allowed suicide attackers to emerge, and the people of KP still faced the consequences of the war. He claimed that not a single suicide attack or drone attack was reported during Imran Khan’s three-year tenure.

Asad Qaiser says KP people rendered sacrifices in war against terrorism

He said that employment opportunities and business activities in the province remained limited, forcing people with even modest capital to leave KP. He said that much of the province’s business depended on trade with Afghanistan, while Peshawar’s market could not compete with those of Lahore and Karachi. He said that closure of Afghan border aggravated economic difficulties of KP people.

The PTI leader condemned Maryam Nawaz’s remarks and appealed to the PML-N leadership in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to oppose the statement and stand in solidarity with the people of the province.

He warned that if the PML-N provincial leadership failed to condemn the remarks, the people of KP would politically boycott those, who mocked their sacrifices and suffering.

He said that authorities were undermining the Constitution, rule of law and democracy in the country while PTI founding chairman Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and other leaders and workers of the party faced political victimisation.

He said that prolonged imprisonment of Imran Khan and other PTI leaders manifested the continuing political repression in the country.

Mr Qaiser demanded immediate release of Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi and all political prisoners and called for an end to political victimisation.

He said that the Sept 27 long march would not merely serve as a PTI political programme but would represent a peaceful struggle for supremacy of Constitution, rule of law, genuine democracy, fundamental rights and freedom of political prisoners.

He said that the people of KP stood firmly with Imran Khan and would demonstrate their political and democratic strength on Sept 27.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2026