Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, played down Wednesday's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) behind closed doors, saying it was more of a show than an actual meeting.
The chief minister of KP told a local TV channel that terrorism would be over by now if it could be stopped by just putting out a statement or making a speech.
He suggested putting together a small group to come up with a plan to get rid of terrorism in the country.
His statement came a day after the PCNS said that the whole country needed to work together and be politically committed to using all of its power to fight terrorists.
Leaders of the opposition parties, the army chief, the director generals of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), as well as senior military and intelligence agency officials, all attended the meeting, which was led by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Akhtar Mengal, the leaders of the PTI, chose not to attend the meeting, which was called by the prime minister after the terrorist attack on the Jaffar Express.
In his speech to the group, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir stressed the importance of better government and turning Pakistan into a "hard state." He asked how long the country would keep making so many sacrifices for a "soft state."
In today's interview, CM Gandapur talked about the rise in terror attacks in Balochistan and KP. He said that the PTI-led government would not let any operation happen in the province, no matter what.
"Operations have been conducted before, but they have not been beneficial; instead, they have caused harm," said the KP CM.
However, he said that intelligence-based operations (IBO) could happen in any place and have.
"Merely killing terrorists is not the solution; we must also engage with the country providing them sanctuary," Gandapur added.
"Friendly relationship with COAS"
"Is there anything wrong with keeping ties with the army?" Gandapur asked PML-N leaders Talal Chaudhry and Khawaja Asif.
"My father was a soldier, and it hurts when people say bad things about the army," Gandapur said, adding that he had to do what PTI founder Imran Khan told him to do, not what a vlogger told him to do.
He said some people were spreading lies about him as if he didn't support the PTI or Pakistan, but he didn't name anyone.
In answer to a question, the KP CM said that he got along well with Army Chief General Asim Munir. "But we don't agree with home invasions, torture, or disappearances," he said.
