Pakistan’s Information Minister Blames PTI for Resurgence of Terrorism‘Suicide Attacks Had Ended; Then a Government Came and Called Militants “Our Brothers”’ — Atta Tarar

Lahore/Islamabad, February 7, 2026 — Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has directly accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of being responsible for the recent return of terrorism in the country, linking it to the deadly suicide bombing at a Shia Imambargah in Islamabad.
Speaking at a press conference alongside religious scholars in Lahore, Tarar said:
“The terrorism that has returned to the country is because of PTI. Suicide attacks had ended, peace had been restored in Karachi. Then a government came, and someone said these are peaceful people, our brothers — we should talk to them. Today we are bearing the consequences of ‘Taliban Khan’s’ thinking.”
Tarar was apparently referring to the PTI-led government’s (2018–2022) approach toward militant groups and negotiations. He added that the attacker in Friday’s bombing had received training in Afghanistan and that security forces had significantly tightened the noose around facilitators and handlers.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi separately confirmed that the mastermind — an Afghan national linked to Daesh Khorasan (ISKP) — has been arrested along with four facilitators in raids in Peshawar and Nowshera.
The suicide attack during Friday prayers at Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah in Tarlai Kalan killed at least 33 people and injured more than 149, making it one of the deadliest militant incidents in Islamabad in over a decade. The bomber was a Pakistani citizen from Nowshera who had travelled to Afghanistan.
The PTI has rejected Tarar’s allegations, calling them “hateful” and politically motivated, and urged that the fight against terrorism not be used for partisan point-scoring.
The government has vowed to eliminate terrorism root and branch, with intensified security measures now in place across the capital and other sensitive areas. Investigations into possible cross-border links continue.