KP CM says province may legislate against civilian harm in drone strikes

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday indicated that the provincial government could move to introduce legislation aimed at criminalising civilian casualties resulting from drone strikes, after protests in his own constituency over recent attacks.

Speaking during a session of the KP Assembly convened to discuss the issue, Afridi said lawmakers had discussed bringing a law against drone attacks, but added that constitutional protections prevented action on that front.

"We held a meeting on bringing a law against drone attacks, but ‘they’ have protected themselves in the Constitution against drone attacks … However, we can legislate against collateral damage", he said.

The chief minister alleged that whenever he objected to a drone strike, he received a message saying that "they understood the situation and were sorry. He also asked why such incidents did not hit sensitive installations and instead affected people in the province".

In his address, Afridi also questioned the outcome of military operations carried out over the past two decades, saying decisions taken behind closed doors had harmed not only KP but the entire country. He further described the Action in Aid of Civil Power Ordinance as a 'draconian law'.

The 2019 ordinance authorises the armed forces to detain a person anywhere in the province at any time without assigning a reason and without producing the accused before a court.

Afridi told the assembly that a jirga would be convened on Saturday against drone strikes and said the opposition had also been asked to ensure the participation of tribal elders so that a future course of action could be decided.

Assembly debate and political responses

Earlier in the sitting, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Swati put off the day’s agenda, saying he had done so because of an increase in drone strikes in the province.

"There is no end in sight to the [military] operations in our province", he said.

Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Public Relations Shafi Jan alleged that the drone attacks were planned in advance and "are being done to undermine only one political party."

He said the jirga scheduled for Saturday would determine the next step, including whether to march on Islamabad or stage a protest outside the KP Assembly or the National Assembly.

Jan said the government had decided it would no longer tolerate the situation and repeated the chief minister’s position that decisions taken behind closed doors would not be accepted.

"Hatred takes a second to spread but years to fade away", he said.

During the debate, MPA Ajmal Khan said dialogue with Afghanistan was the only lasting solution.

"We face the direct impact of the situation in Afghanistan. Islamabad and Kabul should continue talks, but Peshawar must be included", he said.

PML-N lawmaker Rashad Khan said the province had abundant mineral resources, forests and hydel power, but the law and order situation had damaged the economy. Treasury MPA Anwar Zeb Khan said that during fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, shells had fallen in civilian areas, and asked the speaker to issue a ruling for military camps in residential areas to be shifted.

Awami National Party MPA Muhammad Nisar said tribesmen had long suffered because of drone strikes. JUI-F’s Maulana Lutfur Rehman said the region had faced a law and order problem for nearly 30 years and that economic improvement was not possible without peace.

"Discussing our problems here in the House will never resolve issues", he said. PPP’s Ahmad Karim Kundi disagreed, saying the KP Assembly was the proper forum for resolving such matters.

Recent strike and protest

The jirga organised earlier by the chief minister followed a drone strike in his native Khyber district that killed a minor girl and injured six members of a family a day earlier.

The family of the deceased girl later staged a protest near the Hayatabad toll plaza in Peshawar, where police used force to disperse the demonstrators. According to a statement issued by the chief minister’s media office, participants said civilian casualties caused by both terrorism and drone strikes were unacceptable and that people in the tribal areas were paying a 'double price'.

"Neither terrorism nor civilian deaths in drone strikes are acceptable", they said, according to the statement. Participants also called for an end to what they described as a cycle of violence, saying the tribal districts could not continue to face both militant attacks and collateral damage from operations.

They also objected to civilian casualties being described as 'mistakes', with a participant in the meeting telling Dawn on condition of anonymity that questions were raised over why such mistakes repeatedly occurred in populated areas.

During Thursday’s sitting, the assembly also passed three bills tabled by Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi: the KP Assembly Powers, Immunities and Privileges Bill 2026; the KP Province Speaker and Deputy Speaker Immunities, Privileges, Salaries and Allowances Bill 2026; and the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Salaries and Allowances of the members Bill 2026. The session was later adjourned until 2pm on May 4.