Centre, KP lock horns over bulletproof vehicles

• CM Sohail Afridi orders "defective" vehicles be returned.
• Interior ministry says vehicles provided to fight terrorism.
• KP govt attempting to avoid "fighting terrorism": Chaudhry.
  

A dispute has emerged between the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Centre over the bulletproof vehicles provided to police in the province.

The issue began when KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi directed the authorities to return the vehicles provided by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to the police.

Chairing a meeting on law and order, and governance — his first since taking office as CM — on Monday, he said that the vehicles were defective and old, terming them "an insult to the KP police".

His remarks, however, did not sit well with Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, who alleged that the KP government returned the vehicles to avoid "fighting terrorism".

At a press conference in Islamabad, he asserted that the vehicles provided to KP were fully equipped with bulletproof and bombproof features.

The minister maintained that the vehicles were previously used by the interior minister and also the former KP chief minister.

Chaudhry expressed dismay over CM Afridi's directives, saying that the vehicles were provided to fight against terrorism.

Cross-border terror incidents have increased in Pakistan, particularly in the bordering provinces of KP and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Last month, government officials estimated that over 8,000 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists were present in KP after crossing into the country from Afghanistan.

A police report revealed that the province recorded more than 600 terror incidents in the first eight months of 2025.

During that period, 138 civilians and 79 police personnel were martyred, while over 100 were injured in such incidents.

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi echoed Chaudhry, saying that the province should have accepted the vehicles.

Speaking to reporters in Peshawar, Governor Kundi said that the provincial government should make efforts to acquire "more things from the Centre".

"I don't know why KP CM returned those vehicles," he said.

Meanwhile, sources privy to the matter said that the interior minister provided at least three bulletproof vehicles to the KP police.

Though 15 years old, these vehicles remain effective, they added.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan claimed that the vehicles were in use with the United Nations before they were handed over to the KP police.

Speaking to the media after arriving outside the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi to meet party founder Imran Khan, the PTI chairman urged the federal government to provide high-quality vehicles to the police.