LAKKI MARWAT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has announced that no military operation will be allowed in any part of the province, though he asked police to go after armed groups across the province.

While addressing a public rally in Bannu on Friday, CM Gandapur said: “From past experiences we have learnt that the operations were of no benefit and added to the sufferings of people by vacating their homes.”

He said the KP residents offered sacrifices in the war on terror, faced displacements from their native areas, adding that people had reservations over the treatment meted out to them.

The chief minister thanked the Bannu people, especially the elders, who held successful talks with the local administration after the recent violence. After successful negotiations with the administration, a committee comprising elders formulated a charter of demands and forwarded it to the provincial government, he said.

The apex committee in its meeting held on Thursday thoroughly discussed each point presented by the peace committee and accepted all the demands, Mr Gandapur said, vowing that any other demand, if left, would also be entertained.

But he denied reports about any action against religious seminaries and said students were close to his heart. He said his government would provide solar energy to all mosques located in the seminaries as well as education and employment to the students.

However, he directed law enforcement agencies to launch action against armed groups across the province. “I salute to the police and direct them to launch action against armed groups in the entire province,” he said. He asked people to identify malpractices and drugs so that the menaces could be eliminated completely.

He pointed out that the “derogatory remarks” against the martyrs of police and armed forces of Pakistan pained him as well as the families of the martyrs.