Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali said Pakistan Tehrik Insaf has been exploiting the Pakhtuns in the name of ‘change’. He said the PTI-led coalition government had given no relief to the people of the province in the last six months. The ANP leader said this while addressing a gathering of party workers commemorating the death anniversary of slain party leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour.
The ANP leader accused the PTI leadership of running the Pakhtunkhwa government from Banigala (a hilltop residence of PTI leader in Islamabad.)
PTI ran in last general elections on the platform of bringing changes in governance and improving the quality of life of ordinary people. The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa responded to the PTI slogan of ‘Change’ during the election and voted the party’s candidates into a majority of seats in the provincial assembly.The PTI defeated the traditional nationalists ANP who ruled the province in coalition with PPP. The government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with PTI in a majority, was formed in June of last year, but now critics - including the political leaders of rival parties - are asking the PTI leadership to bring ‘the promised changes’ in governance and in the social service sectors at least at the KP level.
Awami National Party (ANP) spokesman and senior leader Mian Iftikhar Hussian told Truth Tracker by phone that his party chief Asfandyar Khan had asked the PTI chairman Imran Khan to implement his election manifesto to end militancy, corruption and lawlessness in the province. Rather than bringing any changes in the lives of the people, the PTI government is working more on giving perks and privileges to its elected members including raising their salaries. He said Imran Khan has promised to bring improvement in the system of education and police within months of forming its government. However, due to the deteriorating law and order situation in the province all the big transporters, businessmen and industrialists have been either shifted to other parts of the county or settled abroad.
The ANP spokesman said the PTI government had failed to bring security to the people and end corruption in the government.
However, PTI leader Shagufta contradicted the statement of Asfandyar Khan and said her party had done more than what it had promised people during the election. Regarding actions to eliminate corruption from the system, she said PTI had expelled two ministers of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) on charges of corruption in their ministries. She said it would be wrong to claim that the PTI government had fulfilled the complete vision of chairman Imran Khan, however, she said it was a fact that the provincial government was addressing problems faced by the people one by one. Shagufta said PTI has yet to launch mega projects in KP, however, under the direction of party leadership, the provincial administration is working to improve the performance of police, revenue and roads and communication departments.
Asad Khan, a former councilor from the Rigi Lalma region, accused the PTI leadership of irregularities in governance and of corruption in various departments. He said recently that a case of embezzlement surfaced where the PTI minister for health Shaukat Yusufzai was accused of allegedly awarding the contract for providing patients’ food packages at the city’s major hospital - Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar - to his own brother. Khan said that people wanted changes on the ground instead of hollow slogans.
Journalist Iqbal Khattak said the PTI leadership and the government are under pressure because people have voted them to power due to their slogans of bringing change in the education and health and police systems.
“PTI leaders have taken votes in the name of change so they must do something concrete in health, education and other social sectors to make the people feel real changes in their lives,” said Khattak.
Considering the statements of various leaders and independent experts, one can say that the statement of Asfandyar Wali is true.
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